The 2nd Law of Thermodynamics Strikes Again
Jonathan Witt over at ID the Future posted a great article by a mathematician Granville Sewell. The focus of the article is the relationship of the 2nd Law of Thermodynamics (the Law of Entropy) to Evolution. Like me, most of you have probably heard the arguement that Evolution violates the 2nd Law, which dictates that order will decrease in a closed system due to the inexorable increase or at least stasis of entropy. Examples of this include the temperature between a hot and cold room mixing to become warm and an old barn rotting. However, most of you have also probably been told that the 2nd Law does not apply to Evolution because it is occuring in an open system of earth, with an energy input from the sun which makes all many of wonderful and improbable things possible. Sewell deals with this response in the article with the best response I have heard yet. In the latter half, Sewell addresses several other general arguments concerning evolution in a competant manner as well, making the entire article worth reading.