Dear Arness,

I appreciate your interest in discussing entropy!

One important thing to note is that there is a distinction that needs to be made between the general understanding of entropy, and Entropy, twin to Discord, one of the two progenitors of Chaos as noted in our Mythos. While the influence of Entropy is felt throughout Creation and the realms beyond, your question has to do with the general understanding of entropy, so I will tailor my discussion to such.

You seem to have a basic grasp of the concept of entropy as generally understood. As you have described with your example about glass, entropy is indeed most easily observed in physical matter. To better explain the concept, let's return to your first example.

Glass is created through a process of intense heating and rapid cooling of materials such as sand, or finely powdered quartz. If you break a glass, it will never spontaneously reform into another shard of glass. However, over time, some broken-down particles of it may end up in another piece of glass, which will, again, eventually be broken down.

It is in this constant and inevitable fate of ruin that you can see the influence of entropy: as you say, matter and energy naturally devolving into chaos.

Let us then address your question about the eyeball.

This is actually a fascinating intersection of biology and optics. Since your question primarily focuses on how light is perceived, I will begin with that.

Similar to the glass of earlier, living beings - in this example, humans - are also created from particles building up to a greater whole, and this of course applies to the eye. The human eye is designed to be able to take in light, focus upon what is being seen, and relay that information to the mind so that the human in our example can comprehend what is being seen. You also seem to have a basic grasp of this in your question.

However, where the misunderstanding lies is in the assumption that the eyeball is unable to be subjected to entropy. This is where we enter into biology. All living matter will also break down, and decompose. The eye is an organ which may even begin to deteriorate, before the rest of the body does. Many among us wear corrective spectacles because some part or other of the eye has already begun to stop working as intended, and there are those, denizens and adventurers alike, that have completely lost their vision due to blindness or cataracts.

In this, it is evident that eyeballs are not exempt from entropy, and the eventual fall into ruin of all things.

You had also mentioned the "recreation of light in our minds as images that represent physical reality." As I mentioned earlier, the function of the eye allows for what is seen to be relayed to the mind for comprehension. However, we cannot assume that all that is said to be "seen" is in fact within physical reality. We are all too familiar with the use of illusions by a variety of classes, which arguably allows us to see things that are not physically there. This can also be observed in the effects of hallucinogens such as cactus weed, or snow blossoms.

It is also fascinating to note that the human eye can only perceive a limited visible spectrum of light, compared to some other races, and other living creatures. But, that is not the topic at hand.

If you would like to learn more, please do not hesitate to ask.


Sincerely,

Solfege Ashaela
Minister of Culture for Ashtan, Seat of Chaos


Penned by my hand on the 23rd of Phaestian, in the year 847 AF.