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"The spontaneous direction of energy flow is from organized to less organized forms."
- the second law of thermodynamics

It is human nature to try to organize things, to create order from disorder. Even adults will acknowledge the temptation to rearrange their M&Ms by color.


(photograph by Maeve Gilman, Emerson '10 art major; edited by me) This abstract sculpture is placed on a mount and, accentuated by the rather dubious placement of a trash bin, dominates the landscape. Without it, we would see a field with a few trees spaced at random intervals. But instead, the angular, unnatural stone sculpture takes precedence over the natural forms. I find the sculpture rather unpleasant. But undeniably, it creates order within the disorder of nature.