UP FRONT
05
LEARNING BY TRAINING By Arend van Campen
GOVERNANCE BY INFORMATION President Trump’s approval of the killing of Iranian General Soleimani in Iraq enraged many people, but also pleased some. It started the New Year 2020 in an awkward fashion, because yet again uncertainty was felt everywhere. Would there be another war? What would be the response of the Iranians? Also, the Iraqi Militia leader Abu Mahdi al-Muhandis was murdered. You may ask: what this has to do with our business in the storage and transport of hazardous cargoes? The answer to that is: everything. Destabilisation anywhere due to armed conflict impacts business. If war between the US and Iran were to break out, shipping to or from the Middle East would become jeopardised, whilst the storage or distribution of liquid bulks would become risky. As a columnist I’ll remain neutral, but the fact is that murder must not be forgiven, even if it is politically motivated. The world as we see it in this new decennium looks terrifyingly uncertain, which in fact it is. Watch the news, read the papers? What you and I can observe is disorder, also known as entropy, which I have written about earlier. I also proposed scientifically sound solutions to end disorder and create and maintain order, but politicians don’t or won’t listen to those. They plan goals, but they cannot be reached because they try to defy laws of physics. Yes, it has come to this fact. Let me try to explain: Professor of Physics Jim Al Khallili, who happens to have been born in Baghdad, confirms that universal energy and information obey the same laws of physics. He says that information, which is in fact energy, is used by the universe, nature and our planet to create order and structure. Information reduces uncertainty and disorder.
So, there you have it. Nature employs information to diminish entropy to build structure by feedback through which it constantly learns and adapts. This is the foundation of evolution. Nature had been building life by trial and error, through learning and information, but ended up with a species that may now destroy itself. Isn’t that ironic? Jim says - and I can agree because as a systems scientist I have done the research - that the universe is expanding and will be until it is time to shrink back into that one atom it apparently originated from. What we now should do, is to stop and think. The universe has created the foundation for life. Our lives depend on millions of precise and unique conditions that were somehow formed by - you probably guessed it – information, which is the energy used by the universe. This is a major breakthrough because it scientifically confirms the issues I have been writing about since I have started this column. Neither President Trump nor the Iranians will use all information because their pre-set goals have been determined long ago and depend on the negation of information. But what they don’t realise is that these goals will therefore be unattainable and cause more entropy. So buckle up your seatbelts, because this is going to be a rough ride for us all. This is the latest in a series of articles by Arend van Campen, founder of TankTerminalTraining. More information on the company’s activities can be found at www.tankterminaltraining.com. Those interested in responding personally can contact him directly at arendvc@tankterminaltraining.com.
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