>Cliff HGood point. A law can't be circumvented. Let me rephrase my last
>comment. There are reasons as to why the 2LOT would not be an obstacle to
>evolution. Another point is that the 2LOT states that the amount of
>entropy in a system always increases. This implies that the universe will
>eventually fill up with so much entropy that any form of organization will
>be impossible. But, the universe is expanding. If the rate of expansion is
>greater than the rate of entropic increase, then it is possible that the
>universe will become even more orderly than when it started. In fact, I
>think this is what is happening and why we see the evolution of larger,
>more complex organisms.
>
>I just love shooting down my own ideas.
>
>Cliff H
Chris
Also, if the universe is infinite, then there is no part of it that is a
closed system, so it would be unlikely that the entire universe would
settle into a low-energy state at the same time.
The slightest difference in mass between two near-together volumes of space
would cause a *further* increase in mass in the area with more mass and a
decrease in surrounding areas, thus de-stabilizing an ever-larger volume of
matter and possibly leading to local "Big Bangs."
The 2LOT only applies in situations where "normal" physics applies and
where there are not counteracting forces (such as gravity). We do not need
to be concerned about the prospect of "Heat Death." The 2LOT is a derived
law, and only applies under the conditions that allow it to be derived.
There is no reason to believe that applies to the universe as a whole,
because there is no reason to believe that the conditions that make it
applicable are themselves conditions in the universe as a whole.
Besides, if 2LOT were in fact absolute and absolutely universal, even God
would not be able to get around it.
However, whether it is absolute or not, it is, as many have pointed out,
not incompatible with naturalistic evolution. In fact, life is just one of
the *many* phenomena that occur as local energy sources (such as the Sun,
the Earth's core, etc.) yield up energy to space. If the naive application
of it were valid, we could not have evaporation followed by rainfall. The
fact is that not all energy is *directly* lost to space; a small portion of
it causes things to happen locally, as it works its way toward being
radiated into space. In some cases, chemical reactions are triggered. If
these chemical reactions produce molecules that can trigger more of the
same type of molecule, and if there can be variations in the structure of
the molecules thus produced, evolution becomes possible. How far it will
get depends on the particulars of the case, but the point is that evolution
is driven by energy from outside the things that are evolving and thus they
do not run down in the normal sense because more energy is frequently fed
into them.
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