Monday, March 14, 2005

Entropy of life

As the second law of thermodynamics states the universe is evolving in the direction of increased randomness. How fast is this happening? It seems to be a paradox as we find organized systems that are constituting themselves amidst this tendency for disorganized. R. Collins in his book Random Designer (2004) talks about how God is not concerned with this paradox and in fact mentions that "the Second Law is simply a necessary part of His magnificent plan."
One can see a deeper purpose in this law. Lets think of different mechanisms, some will increase the order of the system (as the total entropy of the universe increase) and others will decrease the order of the system. For example nutrition versus aging. The competition of mechanisms depends on the relationships of the energies involved with the rates at which the change is occurring. It is all about rates! So time is a basic, fundamental frame of reference.
In the realm of religion:
Our Lord Jesus Christ came two thousand years ago and we are still struggling with his teachings. Christianity has some basic principles that I see are related to the second law of thermodynamics. Love thy enemy! Is this proposition breaking some kind of order that states that we and they are different? Thus belonging to separate organized groups? If we are to love our enemies, we are not different from them under His eyes.