Monday, December 01, 2008

Change

Change

All physical objects, regardless of their other attributes, change over time. This is the nature of entropy. Any expansion must inevitably turn to contraction. Pendulum-like any motion holds inherently within it the potential of its opposite. As the weight swings, it uses kinetic energy and at the top of its arc and the exhaustion of its kinesis, its has gained its greatest amount of potential energy. This, in turn, is converted to kinetic energy as the swing reverses its direction. The points of transition, at the top and bottom of the arc, are the points of greatest energy. These two points, these two fractional moments, are the instants of perfect balance. As an example of all growth, it can readily be seen that there are only two constants observable. The process of change with its continually evolving attributes is one constant, although continually mutable. Although frustrating, our brains’ tendency to grasp at patterns makes this only too obvious.
The more elusive constant is that infinitesimally small moment in time observed (or rather deduced) at the point of balance. Time itself seems to be a constant – it exists and it passes. We attempt to measure its’ passage by constructing machines that record regular intervals and yet the most accurate atomic clock in the existence suffers from the same immutable law of entropy and decay that the swinging pendulum demonstrates with such visual clarity.
Change and entropy seem to go hand in hand. You could say that they are two sides of the same coin.