This section examines the prediction that order always decreases. Thermodynamics requires every closed system to become more disordered over time, so disorder should constantly increase in our universe, but according to Strogatz, what we see today denies this:
“Scientists have often been baffled by the existence of spontaneous order in the universe. The laws of thermodynamics seem to dictate the opposite, that nature should inexorably degenerate toward a state of greater disorder, greater entropy. Yet all around us we see magnificent structures—galaxies, cells, ecosystems, human beings—that have all somehow managed to assemble themselves.” (Strogatz, 2003).
If our universe is always increasing disorder, how did fourteen billion years of more chaos produce the order we see today? That is like waking up in a warm bed with an electric blanket and being told that humans have been constantly devolving since they lived in caves. It doesn’t make sense, so either thermodynamics is wrong or something else is opposing it.
QR5.6.1. Is Energy Conserved?
QR5.6.2. What Is Conserved?
QR5.6.3. Disorder is Probable
QR5.6.4. Order is Possible
QR5.6.5. Evolution Creates Order
QR5.6.6. Armageddon