| 释义 |
extropy, n.
Brit. |ˈɛkstrəpi|, U.S. |ˈɛkstrəpi|
Forms: also with capital initial.
[‹ ex- prefix1 + -tropy comb. form, after entropy n.]
A theoretical tendency or force which opposes entropy; a tendency for order to increase over time, either within a particular context or universally. In later use: spec. human intelligence and cultural (esp. technological) development viewed as a unified generative force; a belief that, by means of such a force, human life will evolve indefinitely in an orderly, progressive manner, beyond its current form and limitations. Cf. negentropy n.
1952F. Kohler Evol. & Human Destiny vi. 88 If one considers the extropy level of civilized human society and compares it with the extropy level of a non-organized collection of individual human beings, then there can be no doubt that the civilized society constitutes the more highly organized system. 1954Q. Rev. Biol. 29 358/1 Kohler..applies the term ‘extropy’..to those decreases in randomness which accompany centers of increasing complexity. He sees a pattern of increasing extropy demonstrated..by crystals, colloids.., cell-colonies, and multi-cellular organisms. 1988Extropy ((Introductory Issue)) Fall 2 While entropy decreases order, usable energy, and information, extropy increases all three of these goods necessary for human well-being. 1988Extropy ((Introductory Issue)) Fall 3 In a universe that blindly threatens to drown us in a rising tide of disorder, extropy offers us safe passage to higher ground. 1994K. Kelly Out of Control vi. 107 ‘Extropians’, as promoters of extropy call themselves, issued a seven-point lifestyle manifesto based on the vitalism of life's extropy. 1998E. Davis TechGnosis (1999) iv. 118 Giving rise to redwood trees and Gothic cathedrals alike, the force of extropy generates novelty, breeds complexity, produces information, and thrusts us onward and upward.
Derivatives. extropic adj.
1988Extropy ((Introductory Issue)) Fall 2 Extropy's general theme allows for a wide and diverse range of topics..*extropic psychology..extropic moral and amoral theories..memetics. 1997Communications Assoc. Computing Machinery (Nexis) 40 68, I imagine an intraspecies nervous system, made of glass and microwaves, spreading to connect to all the minds who wish to be connected to it, extracting from those minds the extropic value of a new-world economy. |
