- #1
madness
- 815
- 70
Sean Carroll has stated several times that the reason we can remember the past and not the future is because entropy is increasing, i.e. because there is an arrow of time. Is this statement justifiable?
Remember that life and its processes, including memory, require negentropy. In other words, memory as a process involves a net decrease of entropy in the brain. While it is true that this decrease in entropy must be offset somewhere else (e.g. in the sun), I still find it quite misleading to claim that memory is possible only due to a decrease in entropy. The important point is that memories are formed via a decrease in entropy within the brain rather than an increase.
What do you think? Did Sean Carroll not think this one through, or am I missing something?
Remember that life and its processes, including memory, require negentropy. In other words, memory as a process involves a net decrease of entropy in the brain. While it is true that this decrease in entropy must be offset somewhere else (e.g. in the sun), I still find it quite misleading to claim that memory is possible only due to a decrease in entropy. The important point is that memories are formed via a decrease in entropy within the brain rather than an increase.
What do you think? Did Sean Carroll not think this one through, or am I missing something?