Introduction : navigating the chaos of contemporary world politics : network vs. no-work -- Understanding the language of energy : why entropy does not herald doomsday -- Entropy as metaphor : pattern recognition, time's arrow, and the big chill -- The multidimensions of disorder : thermodynamics and world politics -- The role of emerging powers in the age of entropy, or, What happens when the sheriff leaves town and anonymous moves in -- How power diffusion works to a state's advantage : this is not your great-grandfather's multipolar world -- Rising entropy at the macro level : the world is not flat in purgatory -- Rising entropy at the micro level : information overload and the advent of truthiness -- Maxwell's demon and angry birds : big data to the rescue? |