• DocumentCode
    1325185
  • Title

    Standing in the Way: Sustainable Future vs. Sloth, Genes, and Entropy

  • Author

    Robbins, Jeff

  • Volume
    29
  • Issue
    3
  • fYear
    2010
  • Firstpage
    14
  • Lastpage
    21
  • Abstract
    The problem of unsustainability boils down to this: universal entropy, the measure of energy and material uselessness, always rises. The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics insists that reducing entropy by concentrating order, as usable energy and materials, in any system, will discharge always greater entropy into its environment. All technological activities, regardless of whether they rely on renewable or nonrenewable resources, cause the entropy of the surroundings to increase. Technological activities introduces a profitable structure but that structure is compensated by the chaos of environmental harm.
  • Keywords
    entropy; global warming; renewable energy sources; sustainable development; 2nd law of thermodynamics; chaos; environmental harm; genes; material uselessness; nonrenewable resources; sloth; sustainability; technological activities; universal entropy; Entropy; Global warming; Renewable energy resources; Sustainable development; Technological innovation;
  • fLanguage
    English
  • Journal_Title
    Technology and Society Magazine, IEEE
  • Publisher
    ieee
  • ISSN
    0278-0097
  • Type

    jour

  • DOI
    10.1109/MTS.2010.938108
  • Filename
    5571928