For readers who are in a hurry, let me state the lesson that should be taken from this post right here in the first sentence: Entropy is real.
Technically, entropy is a measure of the ways in which a thermodynamic system may be arranged. It is essentially the only law of physics that depends on time moving ever forward. According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, a closed system will become more random and less ordered over time. The term has taken on a less formal meaning and, in common usage, implies that everything becomes less orderly if left to its own devices.
Performing simple tasks of household maintenance, as I have been doing over the past few days, certainly brings principle home1. A severe hail storm last year left some tiny dents in our vinyl siding and some mold had started growing in those dents on the North side of the house. As I was cleaning that, I noticed a window or two needed painting. Of course, if you neglect the painting the wood will rot. I also noticed some cracks in a concrete and cinder block planter. Cracks, you know, have a tendency to widen and lengthen and spread if they are not repaired.
Consequently, I picked “Anna Sun” by Walk the Moon because it begins, “Screen falling off the door, door hanging off the hinges” and the most memorable part of the chorus is “What do you know? This house is falling apart/What can I say? This house is falling apart.”
Those lyrics would lead one to believe that the song, indeed, tells us of entropy. I think it does, but the band probably does not think that. Walk the Moon is a four-man indie rock band from Cincinnati, Ohio. Lead singer Nicholas Petricca, and at least some of the other members, attended Kenyon College, which is a small, prestigious liberal arts school. Anna Sun is an associate professor of Sociology and Asian Studies at Kenyon2. The song was named after her, though she did not have any of the band members in her classes. Some of them were in a philosophy class taught by her husband, another Kenyon professor.
Petricca has said that the song is “about college, about maintaining that little bit of being a kid. Don’t be afraid to play.” Indeed, the lyrics reference the South parking Lot and the West Mezzanine and other things that mean almost nothing to those of us who have never been to Kenyon. From the video produced by the band, it is apparent that they are essentially talking about a party for graduation or the end of a school year.
So how does entropy fit in? Let’s start with “a little bit of being a kid.” By the time any human being reaches middle age, he or she knows that the human body is a prime example of entropy in action. If you don’t watch your diet, engage in reasonable exercise, get enough sleep and generally lead a healthy lifestyle, tissues and organs and systems will rapidly deteriorate. Even the twenty-something kids in Walk the Moon write, “My feet are still sore, my back is on the fringes.”
Also consider the college students attending the year-end party. Over the following months and years, those men and women will move across the country and around the world. There are many of us who now think of a best friend from college or high school as “some guy I used to know.” A focused effort to keep in touch with old friends can counteract the more easily achieved result of losing touch. However, entropy is real.
Think, too, about the areas of study that brought the students to Kenyon in the first place. How many of them with a degree in Art History are going to end up taking a job with a catering company. The specialized knowledge they now have will be all but forgotten unless they make some effort to continue to study and apply what has been learned.
The whole concept of knowledge and the workings of the human mind are subject to an insidious form of entropy. Unless we humans continue to think, to do crossword puzzles, to play the quizzes on funtrivia.com, to keep learning, we open ourselves to various forms of dementia as we age.
I could go on and talk about entropy in our spiritual pursuits, in or families, in rotting trees, in landslides . . .. I think you understand already, though. Entropy is real and it takes a focused effort and an infusion of energy to keep it in check.
There is energy in “Anna Sun.” In 2011, it was named “Song of the Summer” by Esquire, MTV and Seventeen. It has a good beat and the kids can dance to it.