The Price of Originality

Every endeavor—a project, relationship, or society—confronts an invisible pull toward disorder. Heat seeps out, colors dim, and structures give way. In response, we deliberately cultivate islands of negentropy, preserving the distinctions that define our existence.

As early as 1944, physicist Erwin Schrödinger wrote in What Is Life? that organisms “feed upon negative entropy.” His insight highlights that living systems actively import order to sustain themselves against decay. In his own words:

This same principle extends to any creative or institutional endeavor: without a steady influx of novel energy—ideas, actions, or challenges—one’s identity dissolves into the static comfort of “best practices,” deprived of the spark that drives meaningful change..

Schrödinger’s formulation laid the groundwork for later systems theorists who argued that organizations, like cells, must metabolize new inputs to maintain structure. Open-source communities, for example, thrive on a continual stream of contributions, reviews, and forks to prevent stagnation; in architecture, adaptive reuse transforms old spaces into dynamic environments, feeding them cultural and functional “order.” Even in machine learning, models subjected to fresh data and adversarial testing preserve their relevance and avoid collapse into obsolescence.

In essence, feeding on negative entropy is not a passive strategy but a proactive discipline—one that demands curiosity, iteration, and the courage to dismantle comforting certainties in pursuit of sustained vitality.

History offers vivid examples. In 6th century BCE Athens, entrenched elites risked upheaval when Solon canceled debts, restructured political classes, and opened civic participation. That radical choice introduced inefficiencies and social tension, yet it preserved Athens’ distinctive identity and unlocked its golden age, defying the entropy of rigid hierarchy.

Centuries later, the British Ministry of Information faced societal collapse during World War II. Instead of defaulting to bleak propaganda, it shifted its narrative to celebrate everyday resilience—commissioning art that honored ordinary courage and broadcasting stories of communal solidarity alongside strategic reports. This reinvention sustained public morale and forged a national spirit that outlasted the darkest days.

In our own era, the rise of Bitcoin stands as a modern testament to anti-entropy. Cypherpunks diverged from centralized finance, crafting the first distributed ledger to validate transactions without trusted intermediaries. Every block mined, every node synchronized, reaffirmed a decentralized identity that no bank could replicate.

The Price of Originality

Originality demands friction: a daily act of resistance against the forces of entropy. Bold choices and self-imposed constraints—whether in technology, design, or storytelling—carry costs: inefficiency, uncertainty, and occasional isolation. Yet it is precisely this tension that fuels growth, preserves distinctiveness, and wards off the slow decay into sameness.

Originality demands friction: a daily act of resistance against the siren call of efficiency and conformity. ### The Siren Call of Conformity

We speak carelessly of "being ourselves," yet the moment social thermostats rise, most retreat to familiar norms. The world applauds consensus and punishes deviance, and every clap is a subtle trap: best practices become chains, efficiency becomes inertia, and comfort becomes the silent cousin of decay.

Yet resistance alone is not enough. True anti-entropy is dialectical. One must both hold the line and adapt—preserving a differential while evolving that very differential in response to shifting environments. Clinging too rigidly ossifies; adaptation without core identity dilutes.

The question is not merely how to be different, but how long you can sustain that difference in the face of homogenizing forces. The only freedom worth having is the freedom to maintain your distinct heat—moment by moment, choice by choice. For in the economy of existence, to remain different is to remain alive.