Source: Design for a Brain: The Origin of Adaptive Behavior (1952), p. 238
“The evolution of a physicochemical system leads to an equilibrium state of maximum disorder.”
Thermodynamics of Evolution (1972)
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Ilya Prigogine 17
physical chemist 1917–2003Related quotes
Source: Design for a Brain: The Origin of Adaptive Behavior (1952), p.54
Source: An Introduction To Probability Theory And Its Applications (Third Edition), Chapter XV, Markov Chains, p. 397.
Source: Sociology and modern systems theory (1967), p. 56.
As cited in: Debora Hammond (2005). "Philosophical and Ethical Foundations of Systems Thinking", in: tripleC 3(2): pp. 20–27.
1950s, Problems of Life (1952, 1960)
Toward an Activist Spirituality (2003)
Context: Systems don't change easily. Systems try to maintain themselves, and seek equilibrium. To change a system, you need to shake it up, disrupt the equilibrium. That often requires conflict.
To me, conflict is a deeply spiritual place. It's the high-energy place where power meets power, where change and transformation can occur.

FQXi Prize winning essay What if Time Really Exists? http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/318, 2008.

“If the system settles into harmony and equilibrium it will eventually stagnate and die.”
Out of Control: The New Biology of Machines, Social Systems and the Economic World (1995), New Rules for the New Economy: 10 Radical Strategies for a Connected World (1999)

Laszlo (1991) The Age of Bifurcation: Understanding the Changing World. Philadelphia: Gordon & Breach. p. 112; As cited in: K.L. Dennis (2003, p. 69).

Arrow, Kenneth J., and Gerard Debreu. " Existence of an equilibrium for a competitive economy http://cowles.econ.yale.edu/P/cp/p00b/p0087.pdf." Econometrica: Journal of the Econometric Society (1954): p. 265