[rescue] Prices... Amazing

[Jeffrey Nonken]

At 05:09 PM 5/2/2005, you wrote:
>>... or "A reminder that sometimes it's easy to overlook the importance
>>of fundamental physical laws when you are dealing with the subtle
>>details of a complex problem."  ;)
>
>But nobody has made a reasoned case why all electrical energy going into a 
>given computer system is necessarily converted entirely to only infrared 
>radiation.  Spouting a mindless phrase like "laws of thermodynamics" does 
>not equal thoughtful reasoning or make a case for anything other than 
>intellectual laziness.

It certainly has to leave as *something*. Hmm. How about noise? I have to 
wonder -- and note that I'm not much on physics, just pulling stuff out of 
my hat here -- how much energy goes into the fan(s) moving the air around? 
Does that ultimately turn into heat from the air friction?

Of course, we haven't discussed the possibility that some of that energy 
could be converted back to matter. Everybody's been talking dust and 
filters, but maybe dust bunnies really come from lost energy.