What does extropy mean?
Extropy is a coined noun describing the supposed opposite of entropy: instead of disorder, decay, and the loss of usable energy, it names the growth of order, intelligence, information, and functional capacity. The word was introduced in 1988 by Tom Bell, who combined the prefix "extro-" (outward) with "-tropy" (turning or tendency) to form entropy's deliberate antonym. It soon became the banner of extropianism, a transhumanist current led by philosopher Max More, whose adherents embraced human enhancement, life extension, and accelerating technology as expressions of this expanding vitality. The term appears mainly in futurist essays, manifestos, and speculative fiction rather than in scientific literature — physicists do not treat extropy as a measurable quantity, since thermodynamics recognizes no such counterpart to entropy. Its value lies chiefly in what it signals: an optimistic conviction that intelligence, organization, and human potential can grow against the grain of natural decline.
The hypothesized opposite of entropy: a continuing increase in intelligence, information, order, and functional capacity in a system.
"They described the city's relentless innovation as a local triumph of extropy over decay."
Not a recognized quantity in physics; used metaphorically or philosophically.
The transhumanist philosophy or worldview centered on this principle, more fully called extropianism.
"In the early 1990s, extropy drew futurists who expected technology to radically extend human potential."
Often encountered in the derived forms "extropian" and "extropianism."
Rarely pluralized; the term is normally used as an uncountable abstraction.
"Different writers have appealed to competing visions of extropies in their futures."
Coined in 1988 by a lawyer named Tom Bell, 'extropy' was deliberately built to be entropy's mirror-image — and it went on to name an entire transhumanist philosophy, complete with principles and a journal.
Reviewed by Deb Chak, Editor. AI-assisted content curated by RJS Tech Solutions LLP.
Etymology of extropy
Extropy was coined in 1988 by Tom Bell, later refined through his collaboration with philosopher Max More, as a deliberate antonym of entropy. It joins the prefix "extro-" meaning outward or beyond with the Greek-derived suffix "-tropy," from "tropē" meaning turn or change, the same root found in words such as trope, trophy, heliotrope, and tropism. The coinage spread through the extropian transhumanist movement of the early 1990s, notably through More's "Principles of Extropy" and the journal Extropy.
Related word forms
How extropy is actually used
A specialized term used almost exclusively in transhumanist, futurist, and science-fiction circles; it has no standing in physics or thermodynamics and would strike most scientists as informal or polemical rather than technical. It carries an optimistic, pro-technology connotation.
Easily confused with extropy
Entropy is the established thermodynamic measure of disorder and energy dispersal, whereas extropy is a coined term for its imagined opposite — growing order, intelligence, and capability.