“La primera ley de la termodinámica declara que la energía del universo es constante; la segunda, que esa energía propende a la incomunicación, al desorden, aunque la cantidad total no decrece. Esa gradual desintegración de las fuerzas que componen el universo, es la entropía. Una vez alcanzado el máximo de entropía, una vez igualadas las diversas temperaturas, una vez excluida (o compensada) toda acción de un cuerpo sobre otro, el mundo será un fortuito concurso de átomos. En el centro profundo de las estrellas, ese difícil y mortal equilibrio ha sido logrado. A fuerza de intercambios el universo entero lo alcanzará, y estará tibio y muerto. La luz se va perdiendo en calor; el universo, minuto por minuto, se hace invisible. Se hace más liviano también. Alguna vez, ya no será más que calor: calor equilibrado, inmóvil, igual. Entonces habrá muerto.”

“The first law of thermodynamics states that the energy of the universe is constant; the second, that energy tends to isolation, disorder, although the total amount does not decrease. This gradual disintegration of the forces that make the universe is the entropy. After reaching the maximum entropy, once matched the various temperatures, after excluding (or offset) all action of one body on another, the world will be a fortuitous concourse of atoms. In the deep center of the stars, that elusive and deadly balance has been achieved. A force exchanges will reach the entire universe, and is warm and dead. The light is lost in heat; the universe, minute by minute, it becomes invisible. It also becomes lighter. Ever, it will not be more than heat balance, motionless, just heat. Then there will be dead.”

Pohl-Valero's 2011 Energy and Culture, a history on social thermodynamics in late 19th century Spain. [3]

“In the second half of the 19th century, the disciplinary map of physics and life sciences was reshaped by the new science of thermodynamics, which became one of the main scientific developments of that century. At the same time, its laws played an important role in the configuration of western modern social thought. Besides cosmological and natural terrestrial phenomena, even society started to be analyzed under an energetic conceptual frame, producing a deep influence in religious, educational, political and economical discourses. European intellectuals from the entire ideological spectrum participated in these kind of discourses. Energy and culture thoroughly analyses the process of communication and appropriation of thermodynamics during the last third of the 19th century in Spain, stressing how the cultural reformulation of its laws was foundational for understanding the natural world and Spanish society during a critical period of their history.

Actually, both energy conservation and entropy were concepts interpreted and employed by local experts and lay persons with a diversity of goals. Several theological assumptions, such as God’s creation of the universe, free will or the possibility of miracles, were debated taking into consideration such theories. While some sectors of society turned to the laws of thermodynamics in order to refute the power of Catholic Church and promote secular values and a naturalistic worldview, others employed them to “scientifically prove” a number of moral traditional values and, by doing that, try to maintain the social status quo. Some heralds of thermodynamics restricted the application of its laws to the material world, while others stated their importance for the study of human beings and society. These laws gave legitimacy to several economical and social stances and represented society as a functioning thermal machine ruled by them.

The historical period studied in this book begins in the late 1860’s and finishes the first years of 1890; it covers the first Spanish democratic period (1868-1874) and an important part of the Bourbon Restoration period. During the decade of 1870 to 1880, the communication of thermodynamics mainly focused its attention on moral and theological implications of its laws and on the role of this science in legitimating a materialistic worldview. Amidst a social debate on scientific materialism and its possible social consequences, the laws of thermodynamics, laden with natural, moral and social meanings, experienced a wide public circulation, going through multiple cultural re-elaborations.

Through a process of popularization, the local advocates of the new science of energy stressed that its laws did not support materialism and that its teaching was important for the material and moral progress of the nation. This “adequate” public image of thermodynamics gained force in the decade of 1880, when it social use went beyond theological and cosmological aspects, entering into debates around the functioning of society. Thermodynamics acquired a more neutral public meaning and an increasingly practical sense, allowing the restoration reformers to elaborate – as part of their political and social projects – a social thermodynamics. Different interpretations of its laws were then used to support social and economical reforms, which the intellectual leaders of the time tried to apply in a context of increasing social tensions.”