Quotes About Non-equilibrium

Nicolis, G., & Prigogine, I. (1977). Self-organization in non-equilibrium systems: From dissipative structures to order through fluctuations. New York: Wiley.

Glansdorff, P., & Prigogine, I. (1971). Thermodynamic theory of structure, stability and fluctuations. London: Wiley.

These are all problems in non-equilibrium physics, the physics of complex systems, or, to coin a new term historical physics. If the laws of physics are ultimately simple, why is the world so complex? Why don't eco-systems and economies reveal the same simplicity as Newton's laws? The answer, in a word, is history.

In a system which is not in equilibrium, or in part of such a system, entropy need not increase. It may, in fact, decrease locally. Perhaps this non-equilibrium of the world about us is merely a stage in a downhill course which will ultimately lead to equilibrium. Sooner or later we shall die, and it is highly probable that the whole universe around us will die the heat death, in which the world shall be reduced to one vast temperature equilibrium in which nothing really new ever happens