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Entropy in the Universe


OSHMUNNIES

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I was watching one of the always-interesting "TED Talks" videos with physicist Sean Carroll giving a lecture on "The Arrow of Time." One point he made that really stood out to me was that entropy, the tendency of mass and/or energy to 'favor' states of disorder, is a common theme throughout much of the universe. He briefly mentioned, however, that certain exemptions to this natural tendency do exist (gravity, biology, and geological sedimentary 'sorting' mechanisms being a few examples). My question is this: If entropy is so prevalent throughout the universe, why do processes such as those aforementioned still arise?

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... He briefly mentioned, however, that certain exemptions to this natural tendency do exist (gravity, biology, and geological sedimentary 'sorting' mechanisms being a few examples). ...

 

I used to read his serious physics blog posts, and sometimes look at his papers. I found them increasingly speculative and misleading.

 

He's bright, a good talker, and an attractive media personality. His popular book is selling very well. But I stopped paying attention a year or two after he failed to get faculty tenure at Chicago, moved to Caltech, and became increasingly air-castles and media-oriented.

 

If you have the impression that biology somehow goes against thermodynamics that could be because of a slightly imprecise slippery way he talked in a TED situation. Or maybe he didn't say that, but qualified it with some conditions and reservations which didn't come through.

 

I don't want to take the time to listen to carroll's TED so I can't give you a fair assessment, or find out what he really said, versus the impression that he gave.

 

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entropy in the universe (forgetting Carroll popularizations and looking at recent research by some top people) is a great topic!

 

Berkeley Nobel laureate George Smoot has just co-authored an important paper about it.

 

there are exciting new developments going on as we speak.

If you want a link to Smoot's February 2010 paper, just ask.

 

Erik Verlinde's January 2010 paper (entropy and gravity--which verges on the topic of entropy and the universe) also got a huge shock reaction.

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