# Life Lessons from the Physical Sciences **URL:** \ **Category:** Miscellaneous and Personal Stuff I Must Share\ **Created:** [July 16, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-lessons-from-the-physical-sciences/915493 "2020-07-16T13:46:30Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Ynnad](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/y/4491bb/32.png) [@Ynnad](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ynnad)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 1:46pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-lessons-from-the-physical-sciences/915493/1 "2020-07-16T13:46:30Z")
Have you ever been reading about the physical sciences and come across a statement that is relevant to the subject at hand but also has a far-reaching lesson on how you should live your life? I’ll start. Long ago I was reading a book on calorimetry and came across this sentence, “In the actual universe there are no reversible processes.” ---
**Author:** ![Si\_Amigo](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/si_amigo/32/2877_2.png) [@Si\_Amigo](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Si_Amigo)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-lessons-from-the-physical-sciences/915493/2 "2020-07-16T13:49:16Z")
What goes up must come down. ---
**Author:** ![wguy123](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/wguy123/32/3161_2.png) [@wguy123](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/wguy123)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-lessons-from-the-physical-sciences/915493/3 "2020-07-16T22:04:55Z")
Shit flows downhill. That’s more from the Life Sciences. ---
**Author:** ![mbh](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/a6a055/32.png) [@mbh](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/mbh)\ **Post date:** [July 16, 2020, 10:33pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-lessons-from-the-physical-sciences/915493/4 "2020-07-16T22:33:15Z")
At the macro level you have the Three Laws of Thermodynamics: 1. Perfection is not possible. 2. Attempting perfection is extremely expensive. 3. If you think you are approaching perfection in one area, you can be certain that you are screwing up something elsewhere. (Yes, I know, the textbook phrases it a bit differently. But that is the practical result.) At the micro level, you have Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle: 1. Perfection is not possible. 2. Attempting perfection is extremely expensive. 3. If you think you are approaching perfection in one area, you can be certain that you are screwing up something elsewhere. There are a lot of environmentalists who seem to get their ideas about nature from Disney movies, but any serious study of ecology runs into the same three laws. Paradise for orchids is Hell for polar bears. There are no perfect solutions. Everything requires trade-offs. Any serious study of economics runs into the same three laws. The universe does not allow perpetual motion machines. It doesn’t allow workers’ paradises either, and for pretty much the same reasons. ---
**Author:** ![Gatopescado](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/gatopescado/32/5711_2.png) [@Gatopescado](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Gatopescado)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 2:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-lessons-from-the-physical-sciences/915493/5 "2020-07-17T02:49:55Z")
“Gravity is your friend, but also a Harsh Mistress” ---
**Author:** ![DPRK](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/d/4491bb/32.png) [@DPRK](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/DPRK)\ **Post date:** [July 17, 2020, 4:16am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/life-lessons-from-the-physical-sciences/915493/6 "2020-07-17T04:16:31Z")
> [@Si\_Amigo](#): > > What goes up must come down. Unless you throw it really, really hard.