Evolution's Thermodynamic Failure

The American Spectator ^ | December 28, 2005 | Granville Sewell

[johnnyb_61820]

I think he failed to mention one important caveat, and that is that what he is saying is true unless there is a specific mechanism to cause a local increase in order. I think he meant for that to be implied, but nonetheless it was missing.

[Chani]

pong for later

[SteveMcKing]

God is a perfect Carnot cycle.

[Strategerist]

It's nice to know there are things you can count on like the Swallows Returning to Capistrano, and creationists completely misunderstanding the Second Law of Thermodynamics in a hilarious and embarassing way.

Only new twist to this one is that it's an actual professor in the Texas State University system, which doesn't really reflect well on Texas.

[LiteKeeper]

Agreed

[My2Cents]

Anyone who has made such an argument is familiar with the standard reply: the Earth is an open system, it receives energy from the sun, and order can increase in an open system

When I leave things out in the sun, they tend to deteriorate, not evolve into something more complex.

[Fiddlstix]

BTTT

[Strategerist]

When I leave things out in the sun, they tend to deteriorate, not evolve into something more complex.

Take a look at a pic the amorphous blob of disorganized clouds that Hurricane Katrina formed from, and then look at Katrina at Cat 5 - organized Spiral Bands, symmetrical, with a perfectly round and clear eye. That was accomplished through solar energy, with no intelligent designer at all.

[manwiththehands]

"... creationists completely misunderstanding the Second Law of Thermodynamics in a hilarious and embarassing way."

I don't know about that. Shake up an earth-sized box of Legos and watch what "evolves"?

But shine some sunlight in it. That'll do the trick!

[ICE-FLYER]

and creationists completely misunderstanding the Second Law of Thermodynamics in a hilarious and embarassing way.

Could you tell us with your reasoning why the portion of text shown here is wrong. Use the example used in the text and tell me why they are "hilarious" to you.

[Little Pig]

Legos aren't photoreactive. Many chemicals are.

[mcg1969]

Well, look, it's UT El Paso. For all most Texans care that's New Mexico.

[truth_seeker]

I just read an article on the lack of science progress in the muslim world.

Teaching Darwinian evolution is against the law, in Saudi Arabia.

[ikka]

Remember folks: hydrogen is a colorless, odorless gas, which if given enough time, will turn into people like you and me. T

[Carry_Okie]

When are people ever going to stop pretending that reality necessarily conforms to scientific models? They have their uses within limits, but such are defined by the applications.

It gets tiring.

[NavVet]

Yep, this professor is clearly one ignorant creationist hick. If only he had the wisdom and insight evident in this thread, he would realize how much of an uninformed rube he is.

[Publius6961]

and creationists completely misunderstanding the Second Law of Thermodynamics in a hilarious and embarassing way.

Making assertions is pointless. Even Ayatollahs can do that.
How about explaining to us exactly why and/or how the second law was misunderstood, and what does it really say?

[Cicero]

Yes, a nice piece of work. And, no, he doesn't misunderstand the second law of thermodynamics. This article nicely raises most of the basic problems with the theory of evolution. What it comes down to, finally, is statistical anaylysis. The probability of things evolving into the incredible degree of complexity we see on earth around us are more than astronomical. And, as he points out, although you can have a statistical anomaly at one small point, an eddy in the general heat (and carbon) decay of the universe, there's nothing observably "coming in the door" from outer space by meteorites, radiation, and a few random particles and gases.

[js1138]

The fact that American Spectator could be so pig ignorantly wrong on a noncontroversial scientific topic does not speak well of their overall reliability.

[Boiler Plate]

which doesn't really reflect well on Texas.

Apparently it doesn't bode well for you either.