Skip to main content
2 of 3
deleted 5 characters in body
plm
  • 982
  • 8
  • 17

In the same vein as the bayesian argument for creationism and misapplications of Gödel's incompleteness theorems, there are misapplications of the second law of thermodynamics against evolution of life ("undesigned", e.g. darwinian or lamarckian).

The second law is a mathematical consequence of (say) fundamental physical evolution equations, in particular of Hamilton and Schrödinger equations for reasonable hamiltonians, and also of simple statistical models (called statistical ensembles). See Wikipedia.

The argument is that life is complex and evolution implies a decrease in entropy/increase in complexity contradicting the second law. See for instance here.

The flaw is that the Earth, where evolution occurs, is not an isolated system. If we consider rather the solar (or just Sun-Earth) system there is loss of entropy on Earth but a compensating gain on the Sun.

For a recent anecdote (and a nice blog to add to your blogroll) see Retraction Watch.

plm
  • 982
  • 8
  • 17