原文链接：Battling Entropy: Making Order of the Chaos in Our Lives

我想我们也可以这样去衡量一件事，就是当你完成它之后，所处的系统内「熵」是否有减少。

Always leave the campground cleaner than you found it

Farnam Street 是最近发现的一个不错的博客，关于「思考」本身这个主题，有些不错的文章

这篇文章以下摘录几段。关于主动和被动稳定性这个观点我认为应该有更多的人意识到，特别似乎还是主动的稳定出现的场景更多。这些的前提是对「熵」有正确的认知。

Entropy is simply a measure of disorder. You can think of it as nature’s tax

简单来说，「熵」是无序的一种计量标准。

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We have all observed entropy in our everyday lives. Everything tends towards disorder. Life always seems to get more complicated. Once-tidy rooms become cluttered and dusty. Strong relationships grow fractured and end. Formerly youthful faces wrinkle and hair turns grey. Complex skills are forgotten. Buildings degrade as brickwork cracks, paint chips, and tiles loosen.

我们都在日常生活中观察到过「熵」。一切都趋向混乱，生活似乎总是变得更复杂；曾经整洁的房间变得积灰且杂乱；强健的关系破裂并结束；曾经年轻的脸庞出现皱纹，头发变得灰白；复杂的技能被遗忘；建筑物分解为残垣断壁。

Entropy is an important mental model because it applies to every part of our lives. It is inescapable, and even if we try to ignore it, the result is a collapse of some sort. Truly understanding entropy leads to a radical change in the way we see the world. Ignorance of it is responsible for many of our biggest mistakes and failures. We cannot expect anything to stay the way we leave it. To maintain our health, relationships, careers, skills, knowledge, societies, and possessions requires never-ending effort and vigilance. Disorder is not a mistake; it is our default. Order is always artificial and temporary.

「熵」的概念是一个重要的心智模型，因为它适用于我们生活的每个部分。它是不可避免的，即使我们想要忽略它，结果也是某种塌陷。真正理解「熵」会导致我们看待世界的方式发生根本变化。对它的无知是造成我们许多巨大错误和失败的原因。我们不能期望任何东西都保持原样。要维持我们的健康、人际关系、职业、技能、知识、社会和财产需要永无止境的努力和警醒。无序不是错误，而是我们的默认状态。而有序往往是人为的、暂时的

Does that seem sad or pointless? It’s not. Imagine a world with no entropy — everything stays the way we leave it, no one ages or gets ill, nothing breaks or fails, everything remains pristine. Arguably, that would also be a world without innovation or creativity, a world without urgency or a need for progress.

这看起来糟糕或者没有意义？并不会。想象一个没有没有「熵」的世界 —— 一切都一成不变，没有人衰老或生病，没有事物会损坏或失败，一切都是崭新的。但也可以说，这是一个没有革新与创造，没有急迫感和进步需要的世界。

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Because things naturally move to disorder over time, we can position ourselves to create stability. There are two types of stability: active and passive. Consider a ship, which, if designed well, should be able to sail through a storm without intervention. This is passive stability. A fighter jet, in contrast, requires active stability. The plane can’t fly for more than a few seconds without having to adjust its wings. This adjustment happens so fast that it’s controlled by software. There is no inherent stability here: if you cut the power, the plane crashes.

因为事物随着时间自然地走向无序，我们可以致力于创造稳定性。有两种类型的稳定：主动的和被动的。比如一艘设计良好的船，能够在没有干预的情况下驶过风暴，这是被动的稳定。相比之下，一架战斗机需要主动的稳定。不去调整机翼这架飞机飞不过几秒钟。这种调整发生得太快，受到软件控制。此处不存在固有的稳定性，如果你切断能源，飞机就会坠毁。

People get in trouble when they confuse the two types of stability. Relationships, for example, require attention and care. If you assume that your relationship is passively stable, you’ll wake up one day to divorce papers. Your house is also not passively stable. If not cleaned on a regular basis, it will continue to get messier and messier.

当人们搞混这两种稳定时就会遇到麻烦，比如，人际关系需要关注和照料。如果你认为人际关系是被动稳定的，有一天你醒来会面对离婚文件。你的房子也不是被动稳定的，如果不定期清洁，它会不断变得越来越杂乱。

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