Chapter V 

 "BECOMING" 



Linkage of Entropy with Becoming. When you say to 

 yourself, "Every day I grow better and better", science 

 churlishly replies — 



"I see no signs of it. I see you extended as a four- 

 dimensional worm in space-time; and, although goodness 

 is not strictly within my province, I will grant that one 

 end of you is better than the other. But whether you 

 grow better or worse depends on which way up I hold 

 you. There is in your consciousness an idea of growth 

 or 'becoming' which, if it is not illusory, implies that 

 you have a label 'This side up'. I have searched for 

 such a label all through the physical world and can find 

 no trace of it, so I strongly suspect that the label is 

 non-existent in the world of reality." 



That is the reply of science comprised in primary 

 law. Taking account of secondary law, the reply is 

 modified a little, though it is still none too gracious — 



"I have looked again and, in the course of studying 

 a property called entropy, I find that the physical world 

 is marked with an arrow which may possibly be in- 

 tended to indicate which way up it should be regarded. 

 With that orientation I find that you really do grow 

 better. Or, to speak precisely, your good end is in the 

 part of the world with most entropy and your bad end 

 in the part with least. Why this arrangement should 

 be considered more creditable than that of your neigh- 

 bour who has his good and bad ends the other way 

 round, I cannot imagine." 



A problem here rises before us concerning the 



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