What the Heck is the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics?

Originally Published on LinkedIn — May 26, 2021

I want everybody that loves their mother to listen up. I’ve been in consultation with the Round Mountain Critter Research Team [RMCRT] more than usual of late. We’ve been ponderin’ on coming up with something every son and daughter of mothers can agree on. Seems there ain’t much these days, but we did come up with one, and I’m here to tell y’all ’bout it. I’ve written most of it in English, but I catch myself reverting back to Texan from time to time. Don’t pay it no mind. If ya read English good, you’ll be okay for the most part.

I do hope you will take the time to read this article through. Here I take issue with the most sacred of the sacred cows of modern thinking. It is written as one who has been asked, “What do you think?” That means I’m telling you what I think, for whatever it is worth. If you find yourself offended, or in outraged disagreement, write your own dang article. I’m hangin’ my butt far out in the wind here. If you don’t like it, put your own dang self out here, and let folks know what you think. I ain’t gonna debate with ya here on LinkedIn. ‘Nuff said.

Let’s start with a story I heard many years ago about a university professor who stood before his class and declared, “There are no absolutes”. A young student in the back of the class raised his hand, was acknowledged by the professor, and ask the following question, “Sir, are you absolutely sure?”

What I want to do in this writing is get to what I consider to be the root of what has happened to us in our times. Only things that can be considered absolutely true can serve as touch stones to guide our thinking and understanding. It seems that we, as a people, have rejected even the concept of something being irrefutable, and there have been consequences. So, let’s consider this.

Let’s begin with a word about The Age of Reason. We tend to associate this time with Thomas Paine, who wrote 2 volumes with this title, first published in 1794. A third volume was released in 1807. Essentially, he espoused Deism. The intellectual climate of those times was ready for such thinking, and embraced the concept in mass. Deism is the belief that God is the creator of all things, but he gave no revelation, that is, there is no “Word of God”. God created us, but gave us the gifts of reason, and the ability to think logically, slapped us on the butt, wished us well, and went to the house.

Paine’s work had great influence on the political, social, cultural thinking, and history of the late 18th century, and on up to the middle of the 19th century. But a line had been crossed with, perhaps, unintended consequences. The stage was set for Charles Darwin, and his book, Origin of Species. Darwin found a way to completely remove God from the picture. The rise of atheism, and agnosticism in Europe, and to some degree in America, made the intellectual class flock to Darwinism, and his theory of evolution. Prior to this time such people had nowhere to go to explain existence. God had been the only game in town so to speak.

This isn’t to say there was not opposition to Darwin’s theory. There were strong objections raised by a number of people, Louis Agassiz being the most notable. Agassiz, a Harvard professor, was a recognized, international authority on the earth’s natural sciences, and the fossil record. He had more degrees than Mr. Carter had little liver pills. [If you get that, you’re older than dirt] Agassiz pointed out that evolution, as presented by Darwin, could in no way explain what came to be known as the “Cambrian Explosion”. In the fossil record of the Cambrian Period there was a sudden explosion of diverse, complex life forms that Darwin, himself, could not explain it, and he acknowledged this. Darwin held Agassiz in such high regard that he sent him a copy of Origin of Species, hoping for his endorsement. Agassiz told Darwin that the Cambrian Explosion blew his theory sky high, and was proof it could not be true. He actually agreed with Darwin, who thought the same thing.

However, it seemed everyone jumped on the Darwin bandwagon, and those who objected were left behind in a cloud of dust. Soon evolution was applied, not to just origins, but to every facet of our thinking. Everything evolved, including civilization, culture, society, and every scientific discipline, from biology to astronomy to history bought in. Everything had to be considered with the bedrock “fact” of evolution as a touch stone. It became absolute. Anything that seemed at variance with Darwinism was either ignored, or twisted around, and contorted to make it fit. Soon the theory was not argued on facts, or well thought out defense. It was “settled science”. If you don’t believe the theory, you’re a flat earther. Personal insults of your intelligence became the standard retort to any who might raise questions.

Now, I have respect for the giants of the Age of Reason, and I respect Darwin. These men were the “out of the box” thinkers of their time. The problem was they built another box, and those who jumped in proved to be at least as oppressive, intolerant, and dogmatic as those in the box from which they escaped – perhaps more so.

So let’s take a look at Darwin’s theory. Darwin believed that everything that has ever lived on earth, extinct or extant, all share a common ancestor. It is said that 3.5 billion years ago, in a way no one can explain, the first form of life, a single cell, miraculously sprung into existence. That single, simple cell is the ancestor of all life, right up to the present, and includes you and me. Everything we have ever observed makes it an axiom that life begets life, and after it’s kind. The only exception was at the beginning, just once, with one single cell.

Now, I don’t know ’bout y’all, but I’m kinda scratchin’ my head here. The first thang that comes to mind is this little critter had to survive, and all life seems to depends on other life for survival. But, it somehow made it.

The next thang is it had to be able to reproduce. Now, it really ain’t soundin’ that simple, and it just didn’t have to survive and reproduce, it had to evolve. That there is one heckuva cell.

Darwin needed a mechanism for evolution. He ruled out radical mutations because they never really produced anything that could survive. So he said the changes that took place were infinitesimal changes, which occurred totally at random. If given enough time eventually this would lead to an entirely different life form – a new species. Darwin’s process was first, minute changes, second, inheritability of the change, and third, survivability. You know, the survival of the fittest. It’s a jungle out there.

The first critters to evolve from our common ancestor were called protists, and it had to face all the same challenges as the original cell – random changes, reproduction and survival.

Protists are single cells as well, and showed up on the evolutionary tree about 700 million years ago. So, it seems to have taken about 2.8 billion years, give or take a billion or two, for our initial ancestor to evolve into a more complex single cell. That’s a long time.

Sponges evolved from protists. Now, I don’t know about you, but it seems like this was quite a leap forward. Sponges are said to have appeared about 700 million years ago. We have to point out that just as there was a first cell, there had to be a first protist. Now we are focused on the first sponge. We can relate a bit more now. We all know what sponges are. However, from the very first sponge, we end up with over 5000 different kinds of sponges. So there was a heckuva lot of evolution going on just to create more sponges. At the same time sponges are evolving into other sponges, they were also evolving into a totally different species. That first little sponge gave us 5000 other sponges, and then jellyfish.

I think I’ve made my point. From that first little cell, life has been in an upward trajectory, rising inevitably to higher and more complex forms of life until here little ole you, and me, stand, or so we’re told. Our little one cell ancestor turned into over 1.2 billion species of life in existence today. That doesn’t take into account all the critters that are now extinct. A species is a life form that can exchange genes, and interbreed.

Now, I want to point out that all of this is total speculation. No one knows what happened 3.5 billion years ago, or 700 million years ago. The assumption was that Darwin’s hypothesis was true, they sat out to prove it, and they needed time, lots of time. The time calculations were based on the demands assumed needed for evolution to get from the first cell to us. Darwinism is used to prove Darwinism had enough time. There had to be a first living thing, and it had to evolve into the second living thing, and so it goes. The above is nothing but what we are told is true. Throwing millions or even billions of years at something, incomprehensible spans of time, was a way to support, and also confuse the issue. How do you argue against it? How do you prove it didn’t happen that way. Then folks started screaming “settled science” so to speak, as we do today, and you become a moron if you don’t go along. I mean everybody believes in evolution. Are you an idiot? Think about the way people are treated today who question global warming, or man induced climate change. As is so often true, things just thrown up against the wall becomes “fact” only because we are told it is. Examples of this are endless.

I recently asked the nice lady who lives in my phone, “How old is the universe?” She instantly replied, “13.8 billions years.” I then ask her, “When was the big bang?” She promptly answered, “13.8 billion years.” How does she know this?” Well, she had been programed, just as we have been. Somebody said it, all jumped on board, and it became a fact.

So here is where we are. All scientific assumptions about life, and the universe begin in total chaos and then proceed happily onto incredible order and creativity. That is what we have all been taught in school. Is it true?

So let’s talk about the second law of thermodynamics. Look at the cartoon below. Yes, folks, that’s it. The kid got it right. Think ENTROPY.

Years ago I found myself at a party, and ended up in the company of five, absolutely brilliant, highly educated men. Two were professional geologists, one was an archeologist, one had a doctorate in education, and the other a doctorate in history. They got off on the subject of Darwinism, which all believed. The conversation waxed eloquent for sometime. I sat silently, just listening to them. Finally, the historian spoke to me:

“Charles, you’ve sure been quiet. I’d be interested in what you think.”

I responded, “Well, when in the company of people who are smarter that I am, I tend to just listen so as not to show my ignorance.”

Laughter.

“Oh, come on,” said the archeologist, “Join the conversation.”

I said, “Well, I don’t have anything profound to add to what you boys have been saying, but I do have a question. Does everyone here believe the second law of thermodynamics is irrefutable?”

With puzzled expressions each confirmed they did.

I continued, “Would you agree that all things will go from order to disorder, in a closed system, as being a fair explanation of the law? I mean that entropy always increases over time, without fail?”

They looked more puzzled than before. No one seemed to snap to what I was getting at. But, all agreed that what I had just said was true. I had their undivided attention.

I then continued, “Okay, someone explain to me how the theory of evolution is at total variance with the second law of thermodynamics, and yet believed to be true. Everything about it is the antithesis of the second law, the exact opposite of what the law would demand, and what we should expect to happen.”

Folks, their mouths fell open. They looked at each other, and back at me in stunned silence for several moments. They got my point.

“You must be a creationist,” someone finally said, breaking the silence. I wasn’t about to fall into that trap.

I agreed, “Yes, I am, but that has nothing to do with my question. You’re changing the subject. You must give answer to this to be intellectually honest. The second law is a stake in the heart of everything y’all have been talking about, and seem to believe. And I might add y’all sittin’ there lookin’ at me like mouth breathin’ Neanderthals just adds to my point.”

Loud, explosive laughter. Good guys. I’d just thrown a turd in their punch bowl, and they took it well.

To his credit, the history professor spoke up, “When I get back to the university Monday, I’m going to be asking some people to explain this, and get an answer to your question.”

This got the whole group off the gig, and the conversation moved on to the Dallas Cowboys getting their butts kicked the Sunday before, and how it might doom their chances to make the playoffs. Yawn. Boredom set in on me faster than a sumo wrestler’s chop sticks in a smorgasbord.

In a recent post I postulated that the species, Homo Sapiens, was giving way to a new species I called Homo Ignoramus. Maybe you missed the significance of a statement I made that the second law of thermodynamics had finally caught up with us. It was a setup for this article. Let’s ponder on it, folks.

If there is one universal truth in this world you could get everyone from all the different scientific disciplines to agree on it would surely be the second law of thermodynamics. Simply stated, the kid in the above cartoon got it right. All things, if left in a closed system without outside interference to maintain it, or improve it, will go from order to disorder. Nothing improves if left to itself. Think about the TV series, “Life Without People”. Simply stated, if you don’t step in and provide your house with necessary maintenance it will begin to deteriorate. This holds true from your bedroom to the far reaches of the universe. There seems to be no exception.

Except with Darwinism. We are asked to believe all things inevitably progress toward greater complexity and order in a closed system. Your kid’s bedroom is an absolute mess, but if you just leave it alone it will, give or take a few million years, end up in perfect order just as long as you never do any maintenance on your house. Is this reasonable? Reckon Thomas Paine would be proud?

Here everything is at variance with fundamental, acknowledged truth. Reason and logic have been thrown to the wind. Even with the explosion of knowledge we have witnessed in our day in the natural sciences we seem incapable of understanding anything. We have to make it all conform with evolution. It has changed the way we view everything, how we view ourselves, who we are, what we are, our view history, the historical timeline, and the universe itself. It has also left us with no moral base. Man has become a god unto himself, but is nothing more than a souped up monkey. The Age of Reason, followed with Darwinism gave fertile ground to secular humanism which is defended with all the religious fervor of the middle age church. We have become a people who have refused to consider a creator in our knowledge. All things spiritual, which is the essence of virtue, rational thought, and logic is denied, and we are paying a horrible price. Man is an animal. Nothing separates him from other animals. There can be no “higher law” that must transcended “German law” in the minds of those who presided in the Nuremberg trials. There is no basis for moral judgement higher than the opinion of each individual, or the dictates of the state, which means there is none at all.

The second law of thermodynamics demands that all things in existence begin in a state of it’s highest order, and then entropy would take its toll. Entropy is the driving force of change in the universe, and it is downhill all the way. We wouldn’t have evolved from monkeys. If anything, we would be in the process of becoming monkeys. Ancient accounts of creation ring true. If Homo Sapiens represent the highest level of humanity, we would have existed at the beginning – and fallen.

We are now only body, not body, soul and spirit. Nothing consistent with Darwin’s view call upon us to be our better selves. In fact the word “better” has no real meaning. We might be the most intelligent beast in the barnyard, but we’re still a beast.

As for me, the universe, and all therein seems to be the work of creative intelligence that is not in conflict with fundamental, universal natural law. Say what you want, and believe what you want, about the Hebrew account of beginnings, but I ask you to read Genesis 1:1 – 6: 5. What you will see is everything beginning with ultimate order from chaos, by design, and then entropy. You cannot deny what you’re reading is consistent, not contrary, to the second law of thermodynamics, whether you believe account or not.

I would like to add that in all the ancient pantheons, from people the world over, the highest god was the creator who brought forth all things out of chaos. Only in the last 200 years or so have we become so “enlightened” that we “know” the idea of a creator is unthinkable.

All things that exists stand as evidence of something capable of bringing it into existence. Yet, for instance, we can’t explain how the great megalithic works of ancient times were built. Man was still to primitive, according to the evolutionary timeline, at the time they were built, He was a hunter/gatherer who possessed none of the necessary skills, or tools to have built them, but we insist he somehow managed. The explanations offered strain the bounds of reason, and logic to the breaking point. Yet, for some reason no one suggests they evolved. You know, 3.5 billion years ago there was a big hill here, and over time the wind, rain, maybe some earthquakes, volcano eruptions, an occasional tsunami, daily and seasonal temperature fluctuations, and climate change eventually wore it down and shaped it. So there you have it, folks, Gobekli Tepe. Nobody suggests this to be true, but when it comes to far more complex matters, such as life, and the natural world, that is the explanation. Go figure.

One more thang. Thelma and Spuds say there ain’t no freakin’ way their ancestry will trace back to no dang jellyfish, and they assure me they speak for all the critters at Round Mountain,

I rest my case.

Ponder on it, pilgrims.

Recommended reading:

THE AGE OF REASON, by Thomas Paine.

ORIGIN OF SPECIES, by Charles Darwin,

DARWIN’S DOUBT, by Stephen Meyer. I highly recommend this book if you want critical thinking about Darwin’s views.