---
slug: paper-holme-p-2024-dissipative-delusions-critique-of-prigogine
title: Holme, P. (2024). Dissipative delusions (critique of Prigogine)
canonical: https://miscsubjects.com/a/paper-holme-p-2024-dissipative-delusions-critique-of-prigogine
---

## What the work establishes
Petter Holme published the blog post Dissipative delusions on January 24, 2024. The post examines Ilya Prigogine’s writings on dissipative structures. Holme identifies a reversal of causality. Thermodynamics requires entropy export for order far from equilibrium. Prigogine and followers treat nonequilibrium as the direct source that produces order.

## Core results and passages
Holme states the logical issue directly. “dissipative structures are emergent patterns *per definition*, and thus they don’t ‘explain’ how the patterns form.” He quotes Prigogine: “Nonequilibrium is the source of order. Nonequilibrium brings order out of chaos.” The source is Order out of Chaos, page 267. Another passage notes Prigogine’s claim of a “new rationality” while rejecting unified theories yet applying the framework across domains. Holme references John Horgan’s The End of Science for descriptions of Prigogine’s interview style and disciple dynamics.

## Convergence patterns touched
The post addresses the flow-to-structure step in pattern emergence. It separates the thermodynamic necessity of energy throughput from any specific generative mechanism. It supplies a disconfirming edge on claims that nonequilibrium alone selects or produces the narrow family of patterns listed in the grain description. The work remains silent on memory, life, and mind layers.

## Distance from the full synthesis
Holme’s critique stops at the thermodynamic boundary. It does not address the Ladder sequence beyond structure. It supplies no positive account of branching, spirals, waves, or memory formation. The distance is therefore large on the later rungs yet narrow and material on the initial flow-to-structure transition.

## Honest limits and disconfirming edges
The post is a single-author opinion piece. It contains no new experimental data. Claims about cult dynamics rest on secondary accounts from Horgan and Festschrifts. The central thermodynamic observation aligns with standard statements that dissipation is required yet insufficient to specify form. No quantitative model of pattern selection appears. The argument leaves open the possibility that additional kinetic or network constraints operate once far-from-equilibrium conditions are met.

## Relation to Prigogine primary works
Prigogine received the 1977 Nobel Prize for contributions to nonequilibrium thermodynamics and the theory of dissipative structures. The citation language is “For his contributions to nonequilibrium thermodynamics, particularly the theory of dissipative structures.” Holme contrasts this award with the later popular books that extrapolate to irreversibility at all physical levels and to historical and evolutionary patterns.

## Supporting and attacking elements for OIP/GRAIN
The post attacks over-attribution of causality. It supports the requirement that energy flow must occur for order to persist. It does not engage the Mirror Layer or reader-inside-system implications. The critique functions as an external check on early-rung claims within the synthesis.

## Evidence grading
All material assertions receive atomic claims below. Tiers follow the defined mapping. Most entries fall under anecdotal because they derive from textual attribution and historical commentary.

## Atomic claims
Claim c1: Dissipative structures are defined as emergent patterns and therefore supply no explanatory mechanism for their own formation. Section: Core results. Tier: mechanistic. Source: Holme blog post.
Claim c2: Prigogine wrote “Nonequilibrium is the source of order. Nonequilibrium brings order out of chaos.” Section: Core results. Tier: anecdotal. Source: Order out of Chaos, p. 267, cited in Holme.
Claim c3: Thermodynamics establishes that order far from equilibrium requires entropy export but does not dictate which patterns appear. Section: Convergence patterns. Tier: mechanistic. Source: standard thermodynamic statements referenced in Holme.
Claim c4: Prigogine’s later writings extrapolate nonequilibrium ideas to politics, economics, and evolutionary patterns while rejecting unified theories. Section: Core results. Tier: anecdotal. Source: quotes from Horgan in Holme post.
Claim c5: The post offers no model or data on pattern selection beyond the thermodynamic boundary. Section: Honest limits. Tier: anecdotal. Source: Holme post itself.

## Sources used
Source s1: Petter Holme, Dissipative delusions, https://petterhol.me/2024/01/24/dissipative-delusions/, 2024. Quote: “Nonequilibrium is the source of order. Nonequilibrium brings order out of chaos.” Summary: Direct critique of causal reversal in Prigogine’s framework.
Source s2: Ilya Prigogine and Isabelle Stengers, Order out of Chaos, Bantam, 1984. Quote cited: page 267 passage above. Summary: Primary text containing the disputed formulation.
Source s3: John Horgan, The End of Science, 1996. Summary: Provides interview descriptions referenced by Holme.

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