Why Things Go to Shit

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The universe tends toward decay and disorder unless incentives prevent it.
Incentives are defined broadly as things that humans and physical systems move toward.
The Big Law: Everything goes to shit unless there's an incentive for it not to.
Examples include tornadoes, toddlers, poverty, and aging due to lack of incentives.
Natural selection lacks incentives to maintain species' long-term well-being, leading to evolutionary suicide.
Humans, like other animals, act for self-interest, often at the expense of collective good.
Moral progress may be incentivized by economic factors like trade and profit.
Autocracies and democracies both degrade over time due to misaligned incentives.
The second law of thermodynamics reflects this tendency toward entropy and disorder.
Gravity and natural selection are local exceptions but still lead to eventual decay.
To preserve something, strong incentives must be created to counteract entropy.

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