Entropy interrupted

Walt Whitman, butterflies and lies

Hi Lifers!

Today’s post is inspired by Eric Carle, Walt Whitman, and every horror movie I’ve ever seen.

caterpillar melts
inside secret chrysalis
goo to butterfly

Science teaches us that systems devolve into chaos over time. This is called entropy. What is the opposite of entropy? While STEM experts will tell you it’s negentropy—I hold that the true opposite is creation—order from chaos.

A caterpillar is a great example of entropy. It is born as a larva, grows, eats, and ends up in a chrysalis—where it melts into a pile of goo. Entropy.

But from that goo emerges a new creature, a butterfly. Creation.

Be the weird you want to see in the world!

Notes

The butterfly in the last panel is from an image of a cardboard butterfly found in Walt Whitman’s papers.

Have you ever seen this famous Whitman picture:

The moth or butterfly he’s holding is a fake. It’s a cardboard butterfly. (Perhaps the very one in the last panel of my comic!) These were often found everywhere around the Easter season. Whitman knew never to ruin a good story with the truth, and so he loved to regale people about the time a moth landed on his finger right as he was getting his picture taken.

Cheers,

Jason