# Local Order Comes at a Cost in Entropy by Claude Shannon > "You could get local organization at the cost of overall increase of entropy. I'm a firm believer in an increase in entropy as time goes on. But you can use some of it to increase order elsewhere." > **— Claude Shannon**, *Anthony Liversidge interview, Omni, August 1987* ## Sources and Context - **Primary interview transcript:** [Anthony Liversidge, ‘Profile of Claude Shannon’](https://gwern.net/doc/cs/algorithm/information/1987-liversidge.pdf), *Omni*, August 1987, reprinted in *Claude Elwood Shannon: Collected Papers*, p. xxix. Shannon was discussing how local organization can arise without violating the second law of thermodynamics. ## Related Articles and Collections - **Collection:** [[collections/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/The Desiccative Succession|The Desiccative Succession]] - **Article:** [[articles/We Were Never Going to Make It|We Were Never Going to Make It]] - **Article:** [[articles/Information Persistence in Complex Systems|Information Persistence in Complex Systems]] - **Wiki map:** [[wiki/Entropy|Entropy]] ## Related Topics - [[wiki/Claude Shannon|Claude Shannon]] - [[wiki/Entropy|Entropy]] - [[wiki/Complex Systems|Complex Systems]] - [[wiki/Machine Succession|Machine Succession]] - [[wiki/Computational Metabolism|Computational Metabolism]] ## Share on Social Media ``` "You could get local organization at the cost of overall increase of entropy. I'm a firm believer in an increase in entropy as time goes on. But you can use some of it to increase order elsewhere." — Claude Shannon, Anthony Liversidge interview, Omni, August 1987 https://bryantmcgill.com/simple-reminders-claude-shannon-local-order-cost-entropy ```