I do not pretend to begin to understand particle physics (or mathematics in general). However, I have read with interest a few of the debates concerning Entropy as it relates to the arrow of time and the Second Law of Thermodynamics.
Basically, the idea is that since the Big Bang the physical universe has been moving forward through time from a very organized state to one which is less orderly and organized. Ultimately this process will cause the universe to expand and die, completely disorganized and without structure of any kind. This is a law of nature -- the movement from order to chaos. We are speaking here of physics and cosmology, not biology. But still, this seems to be an accepted principle amongst the scientists who study these things.
It is theoretically possible for time to move in reverse, according to Einstein's general theory of relativity, but the chances of this happening are so small as to make it virtually impossible.
My question then is this: If the arrow of time moves only in one direction, and entropy is the natural result, why then did life evolve from chaos into symmetry? Life in all its myriad earthly forms has moved from a random few cells to highly structured and organized physical beings. How is it that the evolution of life follows the exact opposite direction of the evolution of the physical universe, a feat which scientists would say is so unlikely as to be virtually impossible?
One of the things we are being told is that, at the subatomic level, there is no “backwards” or “forwards” for the arrow of time.
ReplyDeleteWe experience effect always following cause, but according to physics, the actual path of photons that left a star long before we were born is determined only when we see that light – in other words, our seeing that light now determines the path it took over the past three thousand years, so the cause is later than its effect. However, we don’t directly experience that.
When matter-energy becomes more organized locally, for example to make up an organism, or even to repair our houses, that necessitates a greater entropy elsewhere.
It seems to me, though, that, despite these considerations, we do experience the arrow of time. Cause preceeds effect. And connected with that, it’s much easier for things to deteriorate and fall apart than for them to evolve and build themselves up.
Also, in response to your comments about life evolving into so many forms, it’s worth noting that on earth there seems to be life in just about every place, even the most unexpected – dark, hot, dry, cold, anoxic – yet there has so far been a struggle to find even a single fossil of a microbe in lunar or Martian soil, or in meteors or asteroids.
It looks to me as though there would have to have been an extra impulse to earth to produce life, as there is so far little evidence of it elsewhere.
I think emergent complexity and overall entropy are not necessarily in competition at all.
ReplyDeleteFill a bath. At rest the water is simple, flat, uninteresting. Pull the plug and all sorts of sounds and swirls emerge.
Unstable states produce emergent phenomenon. Perhaps life is a consequence (or a cause?) of the broader entropy that surrounds us; a sort of "not going softly into that darkness."; a further loss of energy in all directions.
We have a very limited perspective (and perceptions) as individual human beings. It is entirely possible that entrophy and evolution are two sides of the same coin, simultaneuosly moving in opposite directions.
ReplyDeleteMy next post will be about relativity. My thinking just now is being fueled by the debates at ET on Universalism. My thesis will be that it is an outgrowth of the scientific and ethical revolutions of the last century.
Tony's comments remind me of something I once read in New Scientist years ago. Stability is too rigid for life, and chaos is too unstructured and unpredictable, resulting in the sentence:
ReplyDeleteLife exists at the edge of chaos.