[Ethan Clive Osgoode]

the 2nd Law applies only to isolated systems. So I may have used the wrong term, but I think I was correct that the 2nd Law does not apply to life on earth.

If it were true that the second law did not apply to closed or open systems, then you could build a closed or open system perpetual motion machine of the second kind. But you cannot do so, because the second law applies to all systems.

[hellbender]

If the sun abruptly died tomorrow, photosynthesis would cease, and soon thereafter all advanced life, in fact everything except perhaps a few creatures who rely on geothermal heat (which is not inexhaustible either), would die out. So only the importation of huge amounts of energy from outside the boundaries of earth keeps life going. Even so, most of that energy is wasted, and does not lead to limitless increase in complex life forms.

I gather from some references that an "isolated" system in which the 2nd Law applies is theoretically possible, but practically impossible. The earth itself is full of small subsystems which are partially isolated temporarily from the larger system, and it is only because of that that we can survive at all. We read a lot about how "antioxidants" are important to health. That's essentially because most of the compounds in your body are thermodynamically unstable; they are preserved because your skin, immune system, ingestion of antioxidants, etc. are able to protect them for several decades. So life exists because of short-term partial isolation of organisms from the larger system. It all depends on where you draw the boundaries of the system.

The 2nd Law does not rule out minor or local conversions of energy to useful work. It just says the process is always wasteful.