Claim CF001.3:
Increasing order is possible, locally and temporarily, only if there is a
program to direct growth and a power converter.
Source:
Morris, Henry M. 1985. Scientific Creationism. Green Forest, AR: Master
Books, pp. 43-45.
Response:
- That claim is pure fantasy. The second law of thermodynamics says
absolutely nothing about programs to direct growth, and the only "power
converter" it deals with is change in entropy. Growth and order can be
seen arising without a program in many places. Clouds form complex
orderly patterns. Streams sort the size of the stones in their bed
along their length. Cooling basalt forms a hexagonal pattern of
cracks. All of these show an increase in organization, and none
involve any program.
- Increasing order is not a violation of the second
law of
thermodynamics, even temporarily. A violation would be a decrease in
entropy without a greater increase in entropy to go with it. Neither
growth nor evolution violate the second law of thermodynamics because
both take advantage of local differences in entropy to get work done.
- Evolution has a program; it is called the environment. Natural
selection serves to communicate information from the environment to the
populations of organisms (Adami et al. 2000).
- An increase in organized complexity is not the same as a decrease in
entropy. The second law applies only to entropy; it says nothing at
all about organized complexity as such.
References:
Further Reading:
Kauffman, Stuart A., 1993. The Origins of Order. New York:
Oxford. (technical)
created 2001-2-18, modified 2005-10-31