The second law of thermodynamics is that every closed physical system tends to increase its entropy, the technical term for disorder. If our universe is a closed system, then disorder should constantly increase but according to Strogatz, this doesn’t explain what we see today:
“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 constantly increasing disorder, how did fourteen billion years of degeneration produce the order around us today? That is like waking up in a warm bed with an electric blanket and being told that humans have been in constant decline since they lived in caves. It doesn’t make sense, so either the second law is wrong or some other universal law is opposing it.
QR5.6.1. Is Energy Conserved?
QR5.6.2. The Universal Conservation
QR5.6.3. Disorder is Probable
QR5.6.4. Order is Possible
QR5.6.5. Evolution Creates Order
QR5.6.6. How Will The Universe End?