A Friendly Rant About the Second Law of Thermodynamics

This is a rant about ENTROPY (defined as a measure of disorder in a system).

It stems from 2 recent experiences.
1. First, I took my car in for an oil change, and they told me I needed to spend $500 for rear-wheel brakes and rotors. Then about 2 weeks later my engine light in my car came on and is staying on.
2. Second, my computer contracted a virus and spyware that completely stopped my computer. So I had to pay to get it repaired. They warned me that my computer was about 4-5 yr old and will probably die soon and when it does I will loose all my info so I better buy one of their computers instead of spending money to fix the old one I have. Yeah, no problem. Like I have $1000 sitting around to buy a new computer out of the blue.

Which brings me to ENTROPY and probably one of the worst concepts in physics - The Second Law of Thermodynamics. Now it is confusing, a little like fixing a car or computer, so I may not be totally correct on all details, but the basic idea of the Second Law of Thermodynamics is this. If a system, like a car or computer or glass of ice, is left alone then the amount of disorder will either remain constant or increase. (And it seems like it always increases) Another way to state this is that all things tend to break down and have less energy to work. It takes energy from an outside source (aka - my bank account) to keep them running. Thus, I summarize this as - all things tend to chaos. This last statement is not totally correct because chaos, disorder, and randomness are not the same. But it is easier to remember.

And so, I have to pay out of my nose to have my systems, car and computer, fixed so that later on they can break down again, and then I'll buy a new system that needs more money to prevent it from breaking down again.

And so, I think to myself that the basis for consumerism is actually the Second Law of Thermodynamics and that all things tend to randomness (breaking down).

And that really really sucks.