tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4444368813494200386.post95514872587735946..comments2008-08-28T23:50:49.092-04:00Comments on 40 Cakes and 40 Nights: Evolution vs. Thermodynamicscodespyderhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03554562808466731331noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4444368813494200386.post-21693565978140002882008-08-28T23:50:00.000-04:002008-08-28T23:50:00.000-04:00Thanks, Sloth. It's much clearer to me now. Origin...Thanks, Sloth. It's much clearer to me now. Originally, my arguments against the article were similar to yours, but far more vague. I made the mistake of assuming that evolution within the entire frame of the universe itself was a closed system, which we don't know to be true. That's what stumped me.codespyderhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03554562808466731331noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-4444368813494200386.post-62048151690955080172008-08-28T04:55:00.000-04:002008-08-28T04:55:00.000-04:00The solution to your conundrum is that he's misapp...The solution to your conundrum is that he's misapplying a very specific rule (thermodynamics) to a wholly innapropriate situation (evolution).<BR/><BR/>Thermodynamics only states that closed systems tend towards entropy. That rule has basically no application to evolution, which deals with massive-ass systems (ecologys and the biology in same) with no easily-definable limits.<BR/><BR/>All evolution needs to work is gene mutation and replication. That is genes mutate causing species differences, some of which provide a reproductive advantage which is then naturally selected for. The mistake is that it looks like - and is often refered to as - 'adaptation', that is the organisms adapt to thier environment. While this might be the case behaviourally, physiologically all that's happening is random mutations.<BR/><BR/>While deliberate adaptation looks like it might break thermodynamics (though there's a good argument that it doesn't), random mutation doesn't even come close to violating that law. Indeed; randmoness is an integral part of our understanding of the laws of thermodynamics.<BR/><BR/>Again, the increasing complexity of organisms, to the extent it exists, is perfectly explicable by references to randomness plus natural selection. There's no need to suggest it somehow breaks the laws of physics, even if it could be shown that those laws applied directly to such a large and varied system.Slothhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/14460003992697961475noreply@blogger.com