Patterns: in Nature, in Society

Catalog description

The shapes of plants and animals, of mountains and shorelines arise because nature dissipates energy as rapidly as possible. These morphological patterns allow description of the energy "landscape" that produced them. Societies and economies show temporal and spatial patterns as well: does the "flow rate" of ideas and of money cause these patterns? These societal patterns are statistically identical to the natural (i.e., non-human) ones. Does this fact challenge ideas of free will? Does it affect one’s development of a personal philosophy? From a perspective grounded in natural philosophy, we will explore just how "entropy rules.” Enrollment limited to 16. Instructor permission required.