[ox-en] Fwd: Towards a Natural P2P Theory
- From: "marc fawzi" <marc.fawzi gmail.com>
- Date: Wed, 24 Dec 2008 13:11:49 -0800
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From new P2P Foundation wiki page: http://p2pfoundation.net/Thermoeconomics
This will be linked to from the P2P Social Currency
<http://p2pfoundation.net/P2P_Social_Currency_Model>
As an engineer, I'm much more familiar with natural/physical side than the
social side, so this could be an opportunity to collaborate.
Premise
We can define a model of society that is optimal with respect to our morals
and ideals, but if we do not look at the observed laws of nature (and
particularly the laws of thermodynamics), which constrain any model that
involves physical resources, the model will run aground sooner or later.
This does not make the social model any less relevant than the observed
physical laws. They are both equally important to understand, and they can
be made to work together in harmony.
In the context of this article, we are concerned with bringing P2P social
models and Thermoeconomic models (or thermodynamic models of the economy)
together in harmony in the form of a Natural P2P Social Theory.
Background
Thermoeconomics is a general loosely defined economic model based on the
idea that the economic construct of cost is ultimately derived from the cost
of energy. This axiom (or starting truth) is then used, along with the laws
of thermodynamics, to construct a model of the economy that works with, not
against, physical law.
The term Thermoeconomics was coined in the 1960s by American engineer Myron
Tribus <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myron_Tribus>. However, the ideas of
thermoeconomics are often arrived at independently and naturally by those
who have an interest in both the laws of nature and the economy.
So far, Thermoeconomic theory has focused almost entirely (or entirely) on
modeling the economy as a thermodynamic system and not enough focus has been
given to social and moral ideals.
This author has been a model of P2P social currency that combines the
thermodynamic model of the economy from Thermoeconomics with the author's
evolving comprehension of P2P social theory.
Thus, this article, which strives to reconcile both worlds, is expected to
become part of the author's current work on P2P Social Currency for
Renewable Energy Economy<http://p2pfoundation.net/P2P_Social_Currency_Model>
Towards a Natural P2P Theory Thermodynamic Cost Constraints in a P2P
Economy Laws
of Thermodynamics: Definitions
Thermodynamics is a branch of physics which deals with the energy and work
of a system. Thermodynamics deals only with the *large scale response* of a
system which we can observe and measure in experiments.
*1st Law* (also related: conservation of energy, conservation of mass,
conservation of momentum):
"Within a given domain, the amount of energy remains constant and energy is
neither created nor destroyed. Energy can be converted from one form to
another (potential energy can be converted to kinetic energy) but the total
energy within the domain remains fixed." (source: NASA website)
*2nd Law* (as a follow up to the 1st law):
"We can imagine thermodynamic processes which conserve energy but which
never occur in nature. For example, if we bring a hot object into contact
with a cold object, we observe that the hot object cools down and the cold
object heats up until an equilibrium is reached. The transfer of heat goes
from the hot object to the cold object.
We can imagine a system, however, in which the heat is instead transferred
from the cold object to the hot object, and such a system *does not violate*
the *first law* of thermodynamics. The cold object gets colder and the hot
object gets hotter, but energy is conserved. Obviously we don't encounter
such a system in nature and to explain this and similar observations,
thermodynamicists proposed a second law of thermodynamics. Clasius, Kelvin,
and Carnot proposed various forms of the second law to describe the
particular physics problem that each was studying.
The description of the second law stated here was taken from Halliday and
Resnick's textbook, "Physics". It begins with the definition of a new state
variable called entropy. Entropy has a variety of physical interpretations,
including the statistical disorder of the system (very relevant to
thermoeconomic information processing), dispersal of energy, etc, but for
our purposes, however you may define entropy (using whatever
interpretation), let us consider entropy to be just another property of the
system, like (not as) temperature.
What the second law states, is that for a given physical process, the
combined entropy of the system and the environment remains a constant if the
process can be reversed.
An example of a reversible process is *ideally* forcing a flow through a
constricted pipe. "Ideal" means no boundary layer losses. As the flow moves
through the constriction, the pressure, temperature and velocity change, but
these variables return to their original values downstream of the
constriction. The state of the gas returns to its original conditions and
the change of entropy of the system is zero. Engineers call such a process
an isentropic. Isentropic means constant entropy.
The second law states that if the physical process is irreversible, the
combined entropy of the system and the environment must increase. The final
entropy must be greater than the initial entropy for an irreversible
process.
An example of an irreversible process is the problem discussed in the second
paragraph. A hot object is put in contact with a cold object. Eventually,
they both achieve the same equilibrium temperature. If we then separate the
objects they remain at the equilibrium temperature and do not naturally
return to their original temperatures. The process of bringing them to the
same temperature is irreversible." (source: NASA website)
(need to add 0th, 3rd, 4th laws)
[edit<http://p2pfoundation.net/Thermoeconomics?title=Thermoeconomics&action=edit§ion=10>
]
Laws of Thermodynamics: Implications
When it comes to bits and bytes that, in a P2P Economy, carry both the
transactions for goods and services as well as digital goods and services,
some of the the physical constraints that follow from the first and second
laws of thermodynamics are:
1. The continuous cost of energy used for powering the hardware at every
point, from desktop to network core, mesh infrastructure or the hardware
landscape, including the communication channels (including the cost of
maintaining the energy generation capacity and adapting it into the future) 2.
The continuous cost of energy for the maintenance and adapting of the
hardware at every point, from desktop to network core, mesh infrastructure
or the hardware landscape, including the communication channels. This
includes energy used in the development and manufacturing of new hardware or
the production of replacement parts. 3. The continuous cost of energy for
powering our human hardware (or bioware), including our information
processing capability (our brain) and our communication channels (our
senses) 4. The continuous cost of energy for the maintenance and adapting of
our human hardware (or bioware), including our information processing
capability (our brain) and our communication channels (our senses)
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