Quote:
Originally Posted by HydrogenBond
Life needed to evolve this entropy lowering mechanism.
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HB, I think the opposite may be true: life evolved through "mechanisms" that increased entropy production. Or maybe it happened both ways...it's all theoretical anyway.
While I think you may be correct about entropy at the molecular level there is another level to consider when talking about biological systems. At the level of
dissipative systems, wherein entropy is dissipated at an elevated rates under “far-from-equilibrium” conditions (thermodynamic equilibrium, that is). This means that living systems support themselves under “far-from equilibrium” conditions by consuming disproportionately higher amounts of energy and producing equivalently higher amounts of entropy. As such, large increases of entropy necessarily accompany biological systems.
Added by edit:
Watch this
cage-of-doom motorcycle stunt video, which is not a bad representation of a dissipative system (motorcycles), operating under far-from-equilibrium conditions (with respect to at-rest gravitational conditions). There’s a whole lot of exhaust entropy being dissipated there.
