The Thermodynamics of an Intelligent Living Universe

[The2ndWheel]

http://www.energybulletin.net/stories/2011-05-19/thermodynamics-intelligent-living-universe

"We cannot know, and therefore will likely never know, why the Universe came into existence, whether it has a purpose, and what, if any "thing" preceded it – whether there is a Divine Will or a Cosmic Intelligence "outside" of physical space. But there are some things we now do know.

We know that the universal "big bang" occurred 13.7 billion years ago (though it could have been a "big bounce" following the contraction of another universe). And we know that life as we know it has existed, at least locally, in this universe for roughly a third of that time. Ponder that for a moment. We (the royal "we" as life incarnate) are a third as old as the entire physical universe. You might think we would have matured by now!

Of all the "laws" of nature we've uncovered (or invented), the one that seems most universal is the Second Law of Thermodynamics: that all energetic systems move irreversibly and inexorably toward maximum entropy (molecular chaos) – that the universe winds down. In fact, it is this directional flow of things from order to disorder that gives us the notion of an arrow of time. While this may appear to be a simplification of the infinite complexity of the universe, it is the nature of the scientific endeavor to find simple laws governing complex processes."

[phantom power]

1. The "directionality" of the 2nd Law

The reason that systems tend toward higher entropy states is combinatorial. The probability of a system being in any particular lower-entropy state is not actually less than the probability of it being in any particular higher entropy state. It's that there are many, many, many more states that are high-entropy. And so if a system begins in a lower entropy state, it's state progression moves into higher entropy states with extremely high probability. The reverse can happen, but that probability is laughably close to zero.

That is, entropy's directionality isn't absolute, although it's a damned safe bet.

[Ready4Change]

2. I disagree with the first paragraph.

A cave man would say we can never touch the Moon.

Life has existed in this universe for one third of it's current age. But if the universe is now, say, middle aged, that means life is now only one quarter of it's own age. For a human being, that would be 20-25 years old. Does a human at that age know all that is knowable by a human? How often does a young adult state something as absolute fact that their elders know to be hogwash?

I think, in terms of understanding the universe, life has barely scratched its own potential. It would be a big mistake to assume we have limits. After all, man wasn't meant to fly. Traveling at more than 40 miles an hour is impossible, because you wont be able to draw breath into your lungs at those speeds.

You can't touch the Moon.