A Question of Entropy vs. Commitment

Probably by far the most prevalent conception of the generic character of motivation is that of drive, not in the sense of an imperative to void an intolerable state that may happen to entail a high level of tension or excitation, but in the sense of the entropy principle of thermodynamics, the inevitable progression of the redistribution of the energies in any closed system toward homogeneity. ¹ The organism is, of course, not a closed but an open system and, as such, would not seem to be subject to the entropy principle. A candle, to take a physical example, may burn more and more fiercely for a while, that is, there is an apparent change in a direction opposite to entropy. The burning candle does not, however, violate the entropy principle. The burning candle is part of a larger, relatively closed, system within which the principle prevails and the growing flame is part of the most effective route—a detour, if you will, but a necessary detour—to entropy. Similarly, the organism may find itself in a situation in which the only path to quiescence demands an 260increase in activity, but the end state to which it is impelled is entropy. Biological energy conversion processes (which, like the burning candle, do not violate the entropy principle) may produce new peaks of intra-bodily excitation which again impel the organism into a path toward entropy.