Trudeau: “The world is moving towards more diversity, not less diversity. It’s a form of entropy.”
Entropy = chaos, disorganization, randomness
Hmm. Interesting.
Entropy = chaos, disorganization, randomness
Hmm. Interesting.
1/ Some people are saying Trudeau probably misspoke or doesn’t know the meaning of entropy. But I think that’s precisely what he meant.
In physics, entropy is the tendency of complex structures to disintegrate into chaos and nothingness.
In physics, entropy is the tendency of complex structures to disintegrate into chaos and nothingness.
2/ Complex, dynamic systems can only exist in a state somewhere between total order - stifling uniformity with no possibility of evolution - and total chaos - a different kind of uniformity where there are only random movements without any meaning.
3/ From a cultural perspective, a society must have shared values and characteristics to exist, to give it structure. Not complete uniformity, or else it becomes like North Korea. It needs freedom and diversity to some degree in order to adapt and evolve.
4/ But if it has *ever more* diversity, constant change, radical questioning of what defines it and holds it together, then it will lose its structure and disintegrate into randomness and chaos. Nothing will distinguish it from anything else. That’s entropy.
5/ This must be what Trudeau has in mind when he says that Canada is a postnational society without any core identity. Immigrants don’t have to integrate because there is no Canadian structure to integrate into. Canada is just a geographic space where anything goes.
6/ In one of my tweets on diversity, I asked: If anything and everything is Canadian, does being Canadian mean something? No, Canada will cease to be a complex, dynamic system. That’s why we must resist the forces of entropy and entropic politicians.
