Tuesday, March 18, 2008
The Second Law Of Thermodynamics
Jollyblogger looks at Tom Peters looking at Starbucks and says:
David , and Peters, then look to innovation as the way to overcome this force. To this I respond - "maybe." In the field of thermodynamics we understand that the only way to overcome the forces of entropy (disorder) is by an infusion of energy. That's it. The only way to prevent the inevitable decay is by hard work.
Innovation is one form of hard work. And, from a psychological perspective it may be the easiest to get people to buy into. That is to say, there is a psychological attraction to the apparently new so the corporate energy is easiest to harness with innovation. But it is terribly important to remember that it is not innovation that is the driver here, it is the energy that innovation harnesses.
However, I think there is a key question in whether innovation harnessed energy is the kind of energy the church is supposed to harness. Innovation purely for the sake of preserving ecclesiastical institutions accomplishes only that preservation.
Innovative energies have limits, once the newness is gone we must innovate again or lose the energy. But as Christians, we have a source of limitless energy. Christ promised us springs of living water, where we will never grow thirsty. That is the energy we need to figure out how to tap and harness. That is also eternal energy, changeless energy - it will not be found in innovation, but in bedrock.
The Holy Spirit is the only source of energy that can work here like it should. I for one want to tap that.
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The money quote here is the one from Odebrecht - "everything in existence tends to deteriorate." That's a pretty good illustration of all the classic Christian doctrines related to sin. The classic Christian doctrine of sin points to internal corruption as the primary cause of personal, corporate and social decline. This is a good reminder because Christians have a habit of looking to "surging competitors" and "disruptive strategies" from the outside as the cause of our problems, when we really need to be looking at our own internal deterioration.Being the chemist that I am, I look at that and see the good 'ol Second Law of Thermodynamics. Simply put, nature tends to disorder.
David , and Peters, then look to innovation as the way to overcome this force. To this I respond - "maybe." In the field of thermodynamics we understand that the only way to overcome the forces of entropy (disorder) is by an infusion of energy. That's it. The only way to prevent the inevitable decay is by hard work.
Innovation is one form of hard work. And, from a psychological perspective it may be the easiest to get people to buy into. That is to say, there is a psychological attraction to the apparently new so the corporate energy is easiest to harness with innovation. But it is terribly important to remember that it is not innovation that is the driver here, it is the energy that innovation harnesses.
However, I think there is a key question in whether innovation harnessed energy is the kind of energy the church is supposed to harness. Innovation purely for the sake of preserving ecclesiastical institutions accomplishes only that preservation.
Innovative energies have limits, once the newness is gone we must innovate again or lose the energy. But as Christians, we have a source of limitless energy. Christ promised us springs of living water, where we will never grow thirsty. That is the energy we need to figure out how to tap and harness. That is also eternal energy, changeless energy - it will not be found in innovation, but in bedrock.
The Holy Spirit is the only source of energy that can work here like it should. I for one want to tap that.
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