I want to talk about tempering

[Cilia]

It comes down to a question of entropy: does it exist? Does aether move from a useble state to an unusable state? And do primals have really shitty efficiency rates?

Note: aether that's been "used" can't return to a "usable" state. If aether never moves to an unusable state, thermodynamics and entropy do not exist and, while things can be bad in the short term, there is no long-term fear to be had. Yet we're constantly reminded of how dangerous primals are to the long-term health of the planet...

If the aether used to summon a primal can be returned to land, the rest would have to be "lost" as far as usable energy goes; that's the only way I can figure that leads to the fear of primals killing the planet making sense. They're entropy engines.

[Anonymoose]

It comes down to a question of entropy: does it exist?

I think the first page of the Encyclopædia Eorzea suggests entropy is a thing in some form or fashion, even vaguely, right? It even uses the consumption of food as an example, and isn't the food chain one of the most basic examples of teaching entropy and which systems are open/closed?

I assume aether is the same way and people just have a really hard time grasping which systems are open and closed.