} I suppose there's really only one way to find out: Hold on a sec --
}
} [click]
}
} Okay, entropy's off. Let's see what effects we can discover.
}
} [The Oracle walks outside to the IU campus, where a flustered motorist
} is sitting in his car.]
}
} Oracle: Good day, sir! Have you noticed any unusual side effects
} that might be explained by a sudden lack of entropy?
}
} Motorist: A lack of what?
}
} O: Entropy. The stuff that makes perpetual motion impossible?
}
} M: Never heard of it. All I know is that my car won't shut off.
}
} O: Well, of course! Without any entropy, it --
}
} M: Look, I'd love to sit and talk, but I'm wasting gas here.
}
} O: You're not really burning the gas any more. See, the pistons --
}
} M: [drives off]
}
} O: How rude! Here comes another student now, coasting along on her
} rollerblades. Excuse me, miss, I wonder if I might have a minute
}
} Rollerblader: HELP! I CAN'T SLOW DOWN! AIYEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE!
} [skates past the Oracle]
}
} O: What's gotten *in* to these people? Maybe this fellow will help:
}
} Physics student: Hey dude, what's with the toga?
}
} O: Never mind what I'm wearing. Have you noticed any unusual effects
} lately?
}
} P: You mean like things being frictionless and stuff?
}
} O: Yes! Now, how does that relate to your existence? Does it give
} you any existential sense of meaning?
}
} P: Yeah, it makes my physics homework a lot easier.
}
} O: Come again?
}
} P: Look at this problem: "A 50kg mass is attached to a frictionless
} pulley at the top of a 60 degree slope...." Before I would have
} had to do a bunch of math to solve this problem. Now all I need is
} a 50kg mass and a steep hill.
}
} O: I suppose that's something.
}
} To answer your question, supplicant, it appears that, without entropy,
} things would be even more chaotic than before -- unless you're a
} physics student, in which case they'd be easier. I don't know if that
} answers your question, but there it is.
}
} You owe the Oracle a reminder to turn entropy back on.
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