Material Dissipation and the Fourth Law

Dissipation, unfortunately, does not only apply to energy, but to materials as well. We cannot, for example, recover the rubber particles that come off the car tires on the highway or the top soil that is blown away by the wind or all metals used in our technological society (even recycling pro- 

We turn next to the continuous energy dissipation - and the corresponding entropy increase - and examine its implications on the development of mankind, from the very early days to the future. 

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