Abstract
I ACCEPT the criticism levelled by H. W. Woolhouse1 against one of my examples2. It was most misleading to suggest, as I did, that birds' eggs “feed” on the heat supplied by (say) an incubator, for this heat does not flow into the eggs but merely reduces the rate of the flow of heat from them. Moreover, it is obvious that the developing embryo “feed” on the yolk, and (like a heat engine) on the negentropy of the yolk.
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References
Woolhouse, H. W., Nature, 213, 952 (1967).
Popper, K. R., Nature, 213, 320 (1967); 207, 233 (1965).
Schrödinger, E., What is Life? (Cambridge University Press, 1944).
Popper, K. R., Nature, 177, 538 (1956); 178, 382 (1956); 179, 1297 (1957); 181, 402 (1958).
Whitrow, G. J., The Natural Philosophy of Time, 311 (Thomas Nelson, 1961).
Whitrow, G. J., The Natural Philosophy of Time, 12 (Thomas Nelson, 1961).
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POPPER, K. Structural Information and the Arrow of Time. Nature 214, 322 (1967). https://doi.org/10.1038/214322a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/214322a0
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