Cosmologic philosophy: entropy as part of fine tuning (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, June 12, 2022, 23:21 (895 days ago) @ David Turell

A new suggestion:

https://www.newscientist.com/article/2323820-is-life-the-result-of-the-laws-of-entropy/

"...since 2014 we have developed a common intuition that there is a hidden interdependence between living systems and cosmology, as demonstrated in some of our publications. To understand this, we need to talk about entropy, a measure of disorder, and how it flows in the universe, both at biological and cosmological scales.

"In the early universe, before there were stars and planets, space was mostly filled with an equal amount of radiation and matter. As this mixture warmed and moved about more, it became less ordered and its entropy increased. But as the universe expanded, it distributed radiation and matter in a homogenous, ordered fashion, lowering the entropy of the universe.

"As the universe further expanded and cooled, complex structures such as stars, galaxies and life formed. The second law of thermodynamics says that entropy always increases, but these structures had more order (and therefore less entropy) than the rest of the cosmos. The universe can get away with this because the regions of lower entropy are concentrated within cosmic structures, while entropy in the universe as a whole still increases.

"We believe this entropy-lowering network of structures is the main currency for the biosphere and life on planets. As the father of thermodynamics, Ludwig Boltzmann, said: “The general struggle for existence of animate beings is therefore not a struggle for raw materials… nor for energy which exists in plenty in any body in the form of heat, but a struggle for entropy, which becomes available through the transition of energy from the hot sun to the cold earth.”

"As the universe deviates from homogeneity, by seeding and forming lower entropy structures, entropy elsewhere in the universe continues to grow. And entropy also tends to grow within those structures. This makes entropy, or its absence, a key player in sustaining cosmic structures, such as stars and life; therefore, an early lifeless universe with low entropy is necessary for life here on Earth. For example, our sun radiates energy that is absorbed by electrons in plants on Earth and used in the functions they need to live. Plants release this energy in the form of heat, giving back to the universe more entropy than was taken in.

***

"One of Salvador’s mantras is that life is an adaptive phenomenon responding to constant and unexpected changes in pressures from the environment.

"This makes an organism an emergent phenomenon, where the final shape of it isn’t contained in the individual pieces that make it up, but can be influenced by a series of larger systems to which it belongs. Living things comprise a network of interactions mediated through the environment. A living system is able to regulate billions of cells to maintain its overall functioning. Beyond that, collections of organisms belong to a network called an ecosystem, which also maintains a dynamical equilibrium.

"This extends all the way to networks at life’s largest scales. The idea of Earth being a self-regulating ecosystem was co-discovered by James Lovelock and Lynn Margulis in the 1970s, and it became known as the Gaia hypothesis. The takeaway for us is that the flow of negative entropy exists not only for individual living things, but for the entire Earth. (my bold)

"The sun sends free energy to Earth, and through a chain of complex interactions, the energy gets distributed through a network of interactions to living things, each relying on it to maintain its complexity in the face of increasing disorder. To contextualise the role of life within the framework of thermodynamics, we define these order-generating structures (such as a cell) as Units Of Negentropy, or UONs. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch. When UONs release this energy back into the environment, they mostly do so in a form that has higher entropy than was received.

"The sun sends free energy to Earth, and through a chain of complex interactions, the energy gets distributed through a network of interactions to living things, each relying on it to maintain its complexity in the face of increasing disorder. To contextualise the role of life within the framework of thermodynamics, we define these order-generating structures (such as a cell) as Units Of Negentropy, or UONs. But there’s no such thing as a free lunch. When UONs release this energy back into the environment, they mostly do so in a form that has higher entropy than was received."

Comment: interesting theory. Lots of distant entropy in the universe also for less on Earth here life consdtantly achieves an equilibrium (or homeostasis) maintained against entropy. Note my bold for an important view of the importance of ecosystems. Ecosystems ae balanced to maindtain lkife in general. Note dhw disparages them as food. One role is tooffer food for all.