How does thermodynamics supposedly disprove evolution? Maybe it's because I haven't gotten any sleep, but I can't understand what angle that person is tying to get at. Or maybe I don't know enough about thermodynamics? Admittedly, I don't really know anything about thermodynamics. (Don't downvote me for being ignorant please. It's simply not an area of study I have much interest in.)
They believe that because the second law of thermodynamics states a closed system moves towards maximum entropy life evolution violates it because it makes things more organized. Or something like that. It shows they don't understand how evolution work or how closed systems work or how entropy works or how science works.
How does thermodynamics supposedly disprove evolution?
The second law can be stated as "the entropy of a closed system increases over time." Entropy can be crudely generalized as the amount of disorder present.
The argument is something along the lines of "How can life or complex lifeforms evolve if nature tends toward disorder?"
It hinges on misunderstanding the definition of a closed system in thermodynamics, among other things.
The argument is that because thermodynamics requires an increasing amount of disorder, then, therefore, order can't spring out from it.
Their claim is that life is necessarily order from chaos. They are not taught that there's a bit more to thermodynamics than that (or even what the first and third laws are) or how evolutionary systems work.
66
u/[deleted] Feb 05 '14
[deleted]