Adaptation vs. Entropy LO5138

GSCHERL (GSCHERL@fed.ism.ca)
Fri, 26 Jan 96 09:36:56 EST

Replying to LO5116 --

David writes:
> He says that physical evolution appears to violate the second law of
> thermodynamics, namely that left to themselves natural processes will
> degenerate to a state of entropy, or complete lack of differentiation at
>the lowest energy level.

I can't speak to how evolution works, but this put me in mind of a story.

Met a gardiner one day, and he had a beautiful garden full of lovely
flowers, trees, sculpted bushes. I remarked how beautiful this was, and
he responded -- Yes, but you should have seen it before I got here, when
God has this place all to himself!

Part of the miracle is reserved for us. Things, left alone, will
degenerate to the lowest state of entropy, there's a force called life
that keeps coming back and regenerating and adding differentiation. Call
that whatever you will, but it's not pure energy! As human beings we can
take it to another level of organization. That's the miracle!

--
Gary Scherling
Helping people help themselves
http://ourworld.compuserve.com/homepages/GScherling_GMS_TPN
GSCHERL@fed.ism.ca (GSCHERL)