Time's Arrow: 2nd Law applies (General)

by dhw, Sunday, October 02, 2016, 16:55 (2972 days ago) @ David Turell

dhw: As far as this naïve non-physicist is concerned, the history of the universe appears to show an ongoing sequence of disorder - order - disorder. Yes, all order moves to a disordered state, but order appears to have arisen out of disorder (e.g. disordered individual components without life are combined into an order that gives life). This means that there is a continuous process of cause and effect, of before and after, in which case the only way time will disappear is if the universe itself disappears and there is absolutely nothing left.-DAVID: The 2nd Law is quite specific that in a isolated closed system energy dissipates. In an open system like the Earth and the Sun, the Earth continuously receives new energy and can develop more organization and complexity.
Sean Carroll is using the Big Bang energy plasma as pure and perfectly ordered to start with as the universe evolves. His statements are correct. -Here again are the statements (my bold):
QUOTES: The Second Law of Thermodynamics does imply a direction. The Second Law states that over time, everything moves from an ordered state to a disordered state. It's the only physical law that can't go backwards.-The universe, like an unmixed cup of coffee, started in an extremely ordered state. Over time, the universe mixed together and became less ordered, like what happens when you stir the coffee. Going back in time is unmixing; it can't be done. The universe can't be 'unmixed'.-"What this means, ultimately, is that time only exists because the Big Bang created a universe that started out ordered. If the universe was disordered from the beginning, there would be nothing left to mix and time would not exist. This also means that someday in the far distant future, once everything in the universe gets mixed for good, time will disappear completely."-Before we go any further, may I impose on your patience and ask you please to explain the following to me:-1)	what did the universe mix together? 
2)	Why does mixing leads to disorder, although mixing the ingredients of life leads to order before it moves into disorder?
3)	Similarly, if EVERYTHING moves from an ordered state to a disordered state, why did our system develop MORE organization instead of less? I'm not asking how - I'm challenging the statements which you say are correct.
4)	to take the opposite scenario, if the universe started out in disorder and then settled into order (which in turn became disorderly, since all matter disintegrates), why would this mean that the sequence of cause and effect, of before and after - which is time's arrow - would not exist?-xxxx-I've just read your new entry on this subject, saying that Carroll is wrong, and scientifically making some of the points I have tried to make myself. But since you were defending Carroll, I'd still appreciate your own answers to my questions.