{Entropy, Autocatakinesis, Revitalization}
2009
Silver Halide Print on Archival Paper
11" x 14"
$160
Alexia F. Lawrisuk
I heard the sound as the current flowed, spilling forth from its manmade confines. I halted. I gazed, transfixed by the lush, undulating foam at the waterfalls base and I shared it with my son. Once visually captured, we lingered for another moment, alone together in the crowd. We moved onward, spiritually renewed and reenergized by this experience with water, the most elemental requirement for life.
Definition of Terms
Entropy
Also known as the Second Law of Thermodynamics, entropy has been classically (late 19th century) defined by describing our physical world as moving from a state of order to disorder or chaos within a closed system.
Autocatakinesis
Dissecting this term from its Greek origins, auto- meaning self, cata- meaning down, and kinetic indicating motion or movement, autocatakinesis is a term developed in the late 20th century describing nonlinear, circular relationships of reciprocity among living things and their environment within a system.
Revitalization
Dissecting this word from its Latin origins, re- means back or again and viti- means life.
Redefining the term entropy as not just a linear progression of order to disorder in our physical world but rather envisioning it as a dispersion of energy within an environment of mutuality or reciprocity with living things has allowed scientists across many disciplines to minimally question if not outright reject the Cartesian-Kantian duality dividing physics and biology/psychology in our understanding of evolution and behavior and to work towards an understanding that living things and their environments can be conceptualized as a single system operating in the context of a natural, cohesive universal systems of laws. I have bracketed these terms in the title of my piece to suggest that these carefully chosen words are "variables" in an equation that is not necessarily linear.
Reference
Swenson, R. (1997). Thermodynamics, Evolution, and Behavior. In g. Greenberg and M. Haraway (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Comparative Psychology, (pp. 217-227). New York: Garland Publishers, Inc.
I heard the sound as the current flowed, spilling forth from its manmade confines. I halted. I gazed, transfixed by the lush, undulating foam at the waterfalls base and I shared it with my son. Once visually captured, we lingered for another moment, alone together in the crowd. We moved onward, spiritually renewed and reenergized by this experience with water, the most elemental requirement for life.
Definition of Terms
Entropy
Also known as the Second Law of Thermodynamics, entropy has been classically (late 19th century) defined by describing our physical world as moving from a state of order to disorder or chaos within a closed system.
Autocatakinesis
Dissecting this term from its Greek origins, auto- meaning self, cata- meaning down, and kinetic indicating motion or movement, autocatakinesis is a term developed in the late 20th century describing nonlinear, circular relationships of reciprocity among living things and their environment within a system.
Revitalization
Dissecting this word from its Latin origins, re- means back or again and viti- means life.
Redefining the term entropy as not just a linear progression of order to disorder in our physical world but rather envisioning it as a dispersion of energy within an environment of mutuality or reciprocity with living things has allowed scientists across many disciplines to minimally question if not outright reject the Cartesian-Kantian duality dividing physics and biology/psychology in our understanding of evolution and behavior and to work towards an understanding that living things and their environments can be conceptualized as a single system operating in the context of a natural, cohesive universal systems of laws. I have bracketed these terms in the title of my piece to suggest that these carefully chosen words are "variables" in an equation that is not necessarily linear.
Reference
Swenson, R. (1997). Thermodynamics, Evolution, and Behavior. In g. Greenberg and M. Haraway (Eds.), The Encyclopedia of Comparative Psychology, (pp. 217-227). New York: Garland Publishers, Inc.
