General rule 1 for objects: "objects" only look "discrete" when we describe them in a superficial manner, without looking into their structure. The discrete social security number or drivers licence is only a good description of a person for those who are not interested about anything else connected with the person.
General rule 2 for objects: No two discrete objects can ever be identical. The closer you look at an object the more fuzzy the object becomes and subtle differences appear even between two seemingly identical objects. Take this down to the ultimate two identical atoms which can not be seperated in any way will spontaneously decay at different times. This implies whatever any discrete object is built out of has imperfections or fluctuations.
Entropy is a description of the relative order of discrete objects. Now look again at rules 1 and 2. How could entropy be anything other than a general description of discrete objects in much the same way as temperature is a measure of the speed of vibration of particles. Knowing the temperature of something does not tell you anything about how the temperature came about and similarly knowing the entropy of something tells you nothing deeper.
Last edited by Orac; 02/15/12 06:39 PM.
