The Arrow of Time in Various Phenomena
All phenomena that behave differently in one time direction can ultimately be linked to the Second Law of Thermodynamics. This includes the fact that ice cubes melt in hot coffee rather than assembling themselves out of the coffee, that a block sliding on a rough surface slows down rather than speeding up, and that we can remember the past rather than the future. This last phenomenon, called the "psychological arrow of time", has deep connections with Maxwell's demon and the physics of information; In fact, it is easy to understand its link to the Second Law of Thermodynamics if one views memory as correlation between brain cells (or computer bits) and the outer world. Since the Second Law of Thermodynamics is equivalent to the growth with time of such correlations, then it states that memory will be created as we move towards the future (rather than towards the past).
Read more about this topic: Entropy (arrow Of Time)
Famous quotes containing the words arrow, time and/or phenomena:
“It is easy to dodge a spear in the daylight, but it is difficult to avoid an arrow in the dark.”
—Chinese proverb.
“Fathers and Sons is not only the best of Turgenevs novels, it is one of the most brilliant novels of the nineteenth century. Turgenev managed to do what he intended to do, to create a male character, a young Russian, who would affirm histhat charactersabsence of introspection and at the same time would not be a journalists dummy of the socialistic type.”
—Vladimir Nabokov (18991977)
“The manifestation of poetry in external life is formal perfection. True sentiment grows within, and art must represent internal phenomena externally.”
—Franz Grillparzer (17911872)