Does evolution create order?
The Davidson Institute claims not.
Evolution contradicts the second law of thermodynamics.
This argument combines a failure to understand the evolutionary mechanism with a violation of a fundamental premise of thermodynamics. The second law of thermodynamics states that the total entropy (a kind of measure of disorder – also not very accurate ) in an isolated system will always increase over time. Some people argue that since the process of evolution creates order, it essentially contradicts the second law of thermodynamics.
As a first step, it is worth discussing whether evolution does indeed create order. This is a philosophical debate that can be quite easily explained why it does not.
(There is a continuation that is irrelevant to the question: But this argument can be refuted much more sharply and decisively: the second law of thermodynamics deals with the total amount of entropy, so there may be islands of order in an ocean of chaos as long as the total entropy continues to increase over time.)
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Sorry, Rabbi, but I meant this sentence: “As a first step, it is appropriate to discuss whether evolution does indeed create order. This is a philosophical discussion that can be quite easily explained *why it doesn't*”.
That is why I put the second argument (to which you referred) in parentheses.
I answered that too. It certainly creates order. Life is a creature with very low entropy. The argument is that the surrounding disorder offsets it, and that's what I answered.
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