CHAPTER 2
The Universe and the fatality of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics.
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Can something become more complex and more ordered by random, accidental and direction-less chance?
Indeed, the universe is the ultimate display of order and everything within the universe is governed by fixed laws.
The planets of our solar system rotate with precision, balance and velocity, with each planet depending on the others to achieve the harmony required for perfect motion.
Again, we observe this absolute order and bewildering complexity in life itself. In living organisms, billions of systems work in harmony with each other. Dr. Patrick Dixon, geneticist, estimates that something in the order of three billion different control systems are present within homo-sapiens alone; each system working with and depending on the others. From the nervous system, endocrine system, skeletal system, muscular system and circulatory system etc., (each with billions of smaller operations working within them to complement the other bodily systems and functions), to the more subtle features such as our eye automatically focusing on distant or near objects; the fluid of the inner ear helping us keep our balance; the biological internal clock telling us when to start physically maturing; our reflex system warning us of imminent danger; involuntary shivering to maintain a safe body temperature; chemical messengers and hormones working endlessly, protecting us from infection and other hazards; chromosomes combining with exactly the same number from the opposite sex to produce a unique human being; our inner nose and lungs, lined with fine hairs to prevent dust from damaging our lungs; involuntary sneezing to get rid of foreign bodies, the presence of cartilage to lubricate our joints, and so on....
The great libraries of the world do not have enough books to list these billions of control/feedback systems within the homo-sapien species alone. Surely, one cannot fail to be struck with wonder and awe at such a clear demonstration of complexity and order, poised in splendour and working to produce absolute harmony.
Systems of harmony and order - more commonly known control systems within homo-sapiens.
Yes, everything we observe is ordered and everything displays complexity, to a greater or to a lesser degree. Atoms and molecules themselves testify to this great mystery, and yet these are the mere building blocks of the other great marvels in our universe.
Have you ever observed something become more complex and ordered by complete randomness, without prior instruction or information?
Your truthful answer to this question is, of course - NO! It goes against the most rudimentary form of logic. Never has something been observed to become more complex and more ordered without any external interference; it doesn't happen!
A simple analogy might be the scenario of the bag with the ten thousand-piece stopwatch that had been dismantled into every individual and intricate part. Would shaking the bag a few times assemble the stopwatch, tighten all the screws, wind the watch and set the time? Furthermore, would continual shaking of the bag complete this simple assembly? 'Simple' this is, because in comparison to the complexities and order of our universe, the watch has a much higher probability of assembling itself, tightening its screws, winding itself and setting the correct time.
If evolution is true, it follows that evolutionary principles will complement the discovered laws of science. Sir Arthur Eddington, one of the great astronomers of this century commented - " If your theory is found to be against the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics I can give you no hope."
No other law is more fundamental to nature than the second law of thermodynamics. The most fatal objection towards the theory of evolution is that it completely contradicts the second law of thermodynamics. This law is central to every aspect of modern science. Nothing ever breaks and nothing has ever been known to break this fundamental law. It can be stated in many different ways. For our purpose, it essentially means that natural processes always tend towards disorder. Another expression of the same process is entropy. That is, all ordered matter will eventually approach disorder.
Energy in the universe is working towards a state of equilibrium. Incidentally, the process of the energy reaching equilibrium results in ordered matter becoming disordered. The consequences to our universe are fatal. Eventually, the entire universe will become disordered; the sun will fade and extinguish, man will return to dust, comets will cease to be, the gravitation of the earth will diminish to non-existence, ordered chemical matter will break down to become simpler and less ordered, our solar system will slow and stop, disorganisation of balance and precision in the universe will increase, and so on.... All ordered matter is moving from order to disorder! This is a most unfortunate reality. The simple will never produce and has never been observed to produce the more complex!
Put simply, it means that the universe is running downwards and that all natural order is going downwards.
However, evolution requires to work in the opposite direction. Evolution requires to work upwards i.e. order to arise from disorder. Evolution requires the simple to produce the more complex. i.e. non living matter becoming living matter, and then microbes eventually evolving into complex living organisms, including man, and so on...
Evolution defies the second law of thermodynamics! The best justification offered to substantiate this is that energy from the sun does this. Where did the sun get its mysterious order? Energy alone does not produce order from disorder. Energy released from a weapon, a battery, a fire etc., does not produce order. Likewise, the sun's energy is useless in sustaining the complexity of life without the mystery of photosynthesis of plants, and the DNA found in cells. Darwin was more than familiar with the second law of thermodynamics but he consciously violated it. He proposed that the simple would produce the more complex through direction-less, random chance, despite the fact that science has never observed this happen.