Snow Day

I'm not allowed to shovel, apparently. So I will write, which is just as much fun.

Life is reorganizing Mid-Entropy Stable States.  You saw through that, didn't you. There has to be more to life than messing with the MESS. OK. Life Is Free Energy. Well, not exactly. Life Uses Free Energy. But LUFE isn't a word, so give me some latitude and allow that Life Is Free Energy, so we get L.I.F.E. and we won't forget what it takes to stay alive. 

To avoid confusion, free doesn't mean that you don't have to pay for the energy. Mostly you do, and that is why you go to work messing with Mid-Entropy Stable States such as coal, oil, and peanuts to get some free energy. Then you can spend part of what you earn on steak and potatoes and save the rest for retirement so you will have some peanut butter before achieving maximum entropy.  

In thermodynamic jargon, free energy is energy available to make things happen. Not all energy can make things happen. In particular, heat energy at low temperature (which has high entropy) cannot make things happen because to make things happen the energy has to go somewhere, and if there is nothing colder around then there is no place for it to go. In other words, if entropy cannot increase, nothing happens. Just remember DIE, Death Is Entropy, so if you've got too much of it you're done for. Which means you want LESS.

LESS is my acronym for Lower Entropy Steady State, which is where you are if you have enough free energy to stay alive. Having enough free energy means you must be getting some because you use some up to stay alive. So LIFE means you need MORE, short for Maintaining Order Requires Energy. Getting free energy and also using it up produces a more-or-less steady state, if you see what I mean.

To summarize, life is reorganizing mid-entropy stable states and using their free energy to maintain a lower entropy steady state. Just remember MESS LIFE, LESS MORE. Got it? I find rhyming helps. Now you know thermodynamics, and you're ready for some math.

That was fun, much like shoveling snow.

P.S.
MESS LIFE LESS MORE doesn't make sense. It must be a clue.
How about MORE LIFE, LESS MESS ?  That works.