What Is Energy and How We Might Think About It?

This book will approach the central laws of physics, particularly those of thermodynamics, as the central development of our age. These universal propensities pose profound challenges to both classical models of thought and to traditional approaches to form: from classical equilibrium theory to asymmetry, control theory, entropy, information and irreversibility. The book’s hope is to foster a new ethos in design methods and new directions for practice that address the actual capacities and behaviors of the world we live. Through a variety of short texts on subjects from the history of the sciences and philosophies of energy as well as an array of examples of current work and historical phenomena, this book positions energy not as ameliorating appendage but as a central instigator of radical, difficult and sometimes deliriously inventive new modes of practice and thought for current and future generations of students.