Adaptation vs. Entropy LO5142

emergent@sirius.com
Fri, 26 Jan 1996 10:23:47 -0800

Replying to LO5116 --

> Can anyone explain how
>evolution works? I'm not talking about the process of mutation and
>natural selection; I'm wondering about why the second law of
>thermodynamics, as Peck expressed it, doesn't seem to operate. What is at
>work and how does it operate? How do natural systems emerge and increase
>in their complexity?
>
>Dave

The classical answer is that you have to look at the total system. Yes,
disorder apparently dimishes when life self organizes, but this is a
localized phenomenon; if you consider the complete system (planet,
universe, being-environment) the second law of thermodynamics is most
definetely applicable.

--
emergent@sirius.com