"When matter is becoming disturbed by non-equilibrium conditions it organizes itself, it wakes up. It happens that our world is a non-equilibrium system." (Ilya Prigogine, "Thermodynamics of Evolution", 1972)
"In an isolated system, which cannot exchange energy and matter with the surroundings, this tendency is expressed in terms of a function of the macroscopic state of the system: the entropy." (Ilya Prigogine, "Thermodynamics of Evolution", 1972)
"The evolution of a physicochemical system leads to an equilibrium state of maximum disorder." (Ilya Prigogine, "Thermodynamics of Evolution", 1972)
"The functional order maintained within living systems seems to defy the Second Law; nonequilibrium thermodynamics describes how such systems come to terms with entropy." (Ilya Prigogine, "Thermodynamics of Evolution", 1972)
"The threat lies in the realization that in our universe the security of stable, permanent rules are gone forever. We are living in a dangerous and uncertain world that inspires no blind confidence. Our hope arises from the knowledge that even small fluctuations may grow and change the overall structure. As a result, individual activity is not doomed to insignificance." (Ilya Prigogine & Isabelle Stengers, "Order Out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue with Nature", 1984)
"Whatever we call reality, it is revealed to us only through the active construction in which we participate." (Ilya Prigogine & Isabelle Stengers, "Order Out of Chaos: Man's New Dialogue with Nature", 1984)
"Today the world we see outside and the world we see within are converging. This convergence of two worlds is perhaps one of the important cultural events of our age." (Ilya Prigogine, "The Philosophy of Instability", Futures 21 (4), 1989)
"The more we know about our universe, the more difficult it becomes to believe in determinism." (Ilya Prigogine, "The End of Certainty", 1997)
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