Annotations for The 2nd Law Unsustainable

Lyric: You’re unsustainable
Annotation:
When Matt says, “You’re unsustainable”, he’s saying that our way of life is structured around the reliance on this finite source of fuel. Our current way of life is, therefore, unsustainable in the long term. If we were to switch to alternative energy sources, we would have to alter the way we live to accommodate the differing methods and rates of energy production.

Lyric: [Sample: Katie Razzall]
Annotation:
Katie Razzall, former Channel 4 reporter, enthusiastically took part to the album as the speaking voice in “The 2nd Law: Unsustainable” and “The 2nd Law: Isolated System”, as confirmed by the official credits. https://x.com/katierazz/status/262332250614534144?mx=2

Lyric: All natural and technological processes proceed in such a way
 That the availability of the remaining energy decreases
Annotation:
The second law of thermodynamics (from here the album’s title “The 2nd Law”) states that the entropy of an isolated system never decreases. Such systems spontaneously evolve towards thermodynamic equilibrium, the state with maximum entropy. Non-isolated systems may lose entropy, provided their environment’s entropy increases by at least that amount so that the total entropy increases. Entropy is a function of the state of the system, so the change in entropy of a system is determined by its initial and final states. In the idealization that a process is reversible, the entropy does not change, while irreversible processes always increase the total entropy.  Source In a nutshell, you can get a broken egg if you have an intact one, but you can’t get the intact egg back if you have broken it, even if all the parts are still there. When you first broke the egg the entropy has increased, and, as said before, it can’t decrease, meaning you can’t go back to the original status of the intact egg. We can apply the same principle to the energy: its availability in the universe can only decrease because of the Entropy.

Lyric: The fundamental laws of thermodynamics will place fixed limits on technological innovation and human advancement
Annotation:
Finally the speaker states directly the connection between the description of the second law of thermodynamics and the statement about economic growth. This is a school of thought known as  thermoeconomics.

Lyric: In all energy exchanges, if no energy enters or leaves an isolated system
 The entropy of that system increases
Annotation:
You cannot fuel a system forever on one base fuel. It needs the interference, and assistance of an outside fuel or power cell. Eventually, the system will become unpredictable, and lose all stability, plunging itself into chaos and destruction. PROPOSED SUGGESTION: This is a direct reference to the 2nd law of thermodynamics – in an isolated system, all energy will eventually become unusable, increasing the entropy of that system. We live in an an isolated system (to a degree) and therefore once we use (increase the entropy) all the cheap energy (oil) then we run out of the option to continue our current lifestyles.

Lyric: Energy continuously flows from being concentrated
 To becoming dispersed, spread out, wasted and useless
Annotation:
The potent energy we use is being wasted an an incredible rate. And in that process, it is becoming weaker and less useful leaving us with a shortage of the most important thing in our lives.

Lyric: New energy cannot be created and high grade energy is being destroyed
 An economy based on endless growth is
Annotation:
Energy cannot be created it can only change forms. And with the high power, more useful fuels being destroyed we’re running out of options on what we can fuel the world on. When Matt says “And economy based on endless growth is unsustainable” He’s saying that nothing can stay on a rocketing growth forever, it will eventually stop raising, then collapse on itself into utter turmoil.  PROPOSED SUGGESTION: A High Grade energy is a more valuable energy like electricity. It is a result of burning thermal energy of fossil fuels which is a low grade energy. the efficiency of fossil plants is so low about 35-40%. We must be more careful with using high grade energies

Lyric: In an isolated system, the entropy can only increase
 A species set on endless growth is
Annotation:
According to the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (Hence album title), entropy, which is a measurement of the thermodynamic energy in a “system” that is useless (incapable of doing work), will always increase assuming that the system is isolated.  Because of this, energy is constantly being spread out, released, and made useless. Our entire society is based upon the existence of endless resources and energy; without fuel for example, modern travel would be made practically impossible, effectively bringing the world to a halt. Fortunately, our isolated system includes the sun, which has a few million years worth of energy to be dispersed and spread out, but Bellamy’s lyrics throughout “The 2nd Law” focus on this particular, somewhat apocalyptic point: we CAN’T keep it up like this  forever.

