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All economic activity depends upon natural resources. This can be summarised by briefly looking at the the laws of thermodynamics. Thermodynamics is the science of energy conversion and was developed when scientists wanted to increase the efficiency of energy creation from steam engines.

1st Law - Energy can be changed from one form to another but it cannot be created or destroyed.

2nd Law - Energy only converts in one direction; from useable to unusable. Big things break down and get smaller - the law of entropy.

3rd Law﻿ - it is impossible to cool a body to absolute zero by any finite process

Here is an interpretation by C.P. Snow that may make more sense for our studies of economics:


 * You cannot win (that is, you cannot get something for nothing, because matter and energy are conserved).
 * You cannot break even (you cannot return to the same energy state, because there is always an increase in disorder; entropy increases).
 * You cannot get out of the game (because zero is unattainable).

What all this means is that we don't actually create anything new in real terms. We merely convert it from one form of energy into another.

We have become very dependent upon one another....Look at this video

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