**
Summary
**
of arguments related to BioLogos discourse post ‘The second law of thermodynamics also holds for open systems’ (12 Januari 2017):
The scope of the 2nd Law
(1) The aim of my initial post was to clarify that the second Law of Thermodynamics holds for open systems. In my post on Januari 16, I pointed out that the 2nd Law is grounded in the principles of Kelvin and Clausius, which are beyond discussion and hold for open systems. As a consequence of this scientific fact, the information given at the ‘common-questions section’ of BioLogos on the second Law ( “The second law is only valid in closed systems with no external sources of energy. Since the Earth receives continual energy from the Sun, the second law does not apply”) is incorrect, and needs adjustment.
(2)The fundamental property of our physical reality, as captured by the 2nd Law and the underlying principles of Kelvin and Clausius for open systems, is that any system ultimately turns into maximal disorder, if the sum of the incoming and outgoing energy flows is zero, averaged over a period of time.
(3) I proved that Earth2 (identical to our Earth, except the presence of living organisms) is a system for which the sum of the incoming and outgoing energy flows is zero, if it is put in the free, continual light of the Sun. As a consequence, its entropy increases ever further.
(4) I proved mathematically that it is impossible that somewhere on Earth2 an ever increasing difference emerges, resulting in a ‘Flintstone battery’.
(5) I clarified that the natural course of events is decay, and that the 2nd Law mathematically captures this fundamental characteristic of our physical reality. The natural course of events is present everywhere, also on the molecular level. Every day, in every cell (including the sex cells), our DNA looses hundreds of thousands nucleotides. Fortunately, most of these mutations are repaired. Without the mutation repair systems in every cell, the DNA would turn into complete chaos within a life time. In 2015 the Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to Thomas Lindahl, Paul Modich and Aziz Sancar for the discovery of these repair systems. A major part of the hundreds of thousands of mutations of the DNA that happen every day in every cell is produced by ‘oxidative deamination’, which makes the letters of the genetic code (A, C, T, G) illegible.
Natural course of events; natural processes are decay processes
(6) The natural course of events is shaped by natural processes as lightning, atmospheric activity, tectonic activity, gravity, radiation, diffusion. Natural processes can produce order, for instance: snow flakes, sand ribbles, hurricanes, spiral nebulas, crystals. Natural processes, however, cannot preserve this order and will sooner or later turn it again into disorder. The preservation of order requires continual directed effort as predicted by the 2nd Law and the underlying principles of Kelvin and Clausius. This is demonstrated by Miller’s experiment: the transformation of simple substances into amino acids by natural processes stops, unless a factory is built by adding a transport mechanism and safe storage of the amino acids. A natural process leads, sooner or later, to the ultimate decay, as predicted by the 2nd Law.
(7) Natural processes are decay process, and are the existential ground for, for example, the chemical industry, the ICT industry, the automobile industry, the maintenance and construction industry, for entrepreneurs and innovators.
Empirical evidence
(8) I reported that a rock that is sprayed with a mix of soda water, ammonia and methane, and is put in the continual radiation of a strong lamp, does not turn into a Flintstone battery.
(9) I pointed out that Miller’s experiments in 1953 prove that an ever concentrated primordial soup of amino acids can only be produced by building a factory.
(10) I pointed out that Sybrand Otto’s experiments do not show simple molecules that transform themselves into highly active building blocks, which are eager to form rings and strands of rings. The highly active building blocks used in Sybrand Otto’s experiments are produced in a factory, in advance of his experiments.
Violation of the 2nd Law
(11) Physical processes cannot violate the 2nd Law, because the 2nd Law describes how physical processes proceed. Only theories can violate the 2nd Law. For instance the theory that natural processes can preserve order and expand it ever further.
(12) The vast, daily damage of the DNA in every cell, including the sex cells, is largely the result of the natural oxidation of the DNA. To repair the oxidation, reduction is required. Since the laws of chemistry do not allow oxidation to bring about reduction, mutations can not establish mutation repair. The theory that mutations can produce mutation repair and that oxidation can produce reduction, is in conflict with empirical science and must be rejected.
(13) Natural processes are decay processes in contrast to industrial processes, which are make processes. Empirical science has studied decay and make processes for ages yet and revealed that make processes require directed energy to antagonize natural decay.
(14) The natural course of events (as captured by the 2nd Law) is decay. A theory that claims that decay can repair decay (!) and can produce innovations (!) is diametrically in conflict with empirical science. Therefore, evolutionary theory must be formulated more accurately. This need can be specified in more detail:
(a) Living nature continuously adapts to changing circumstances by the mechanism of recombination of alleles and by gene regulation, not by mutations http://benthamopen.com/contents/pdf/TOEVOLJ/TOEVOLJ-5-1.pdf So, evolution exists (don’t worry). Mutations of the DNA do not improve the DNA and expand it ever further with new functionalities. On the contrary! Mutations are the cause of cancer and hereditary diseases. No scientist will put his/her genitals under a X-ray machine to improve the DNA of his progeny and to expand it with new functionalities. According to the playing rules of empirical science, the theory that mutations and a dysfunctioning mutation repair system are the motor for improvement of the DNA and expansion of it with new functionalities, must be rejected.
(b) The theory that organic molecules have an intrinsic desire to order themselves into ever more complex structures is based on the false experiments of Miller. Billions of tons of primordial soup can only be produced by building a factory, as Miller proved.
(c) Molecules do not start to order themselves into highly active building blocks and into ever more complicated structures, which preserve themselves and expand themselves ever further, as the experiments of Sybrand Otto prove.
(d) Mutations cannot produce mutation repair processes.
(15) The presence of mutation repair in every cell, is an unsolvable problem for evolutionary theory.
The Alchemists are back
(16) Based on the false claims of Miller and his supervisors, its it broadly believed today that organic molecules possess an intrinsic, hidden desire to organize themselves into increasingly larger structures. This view on matter is a repetition of the Alchemist’s view, who believed that matter does not merely consist of four basic elements (water, fire, air and earth) but also contains a hidden force (the ‘quint essence’). Many people believe that if we search long enough, this hidden force will be discovered and after triggering it in the right way, it can be released, resulting into a natural process in which organic molecules will transform themselves into increasingly larger and more complex structures.
(17) Never, in any laboratory in the world, it will be found that simple molecules start ordering themselves into ever more complex structures (which means that their energy content increases!), and start to preserve their complexity and expand it ever further. Such an event would mean that energy becomes available for free. Regrettably, miracles only happen in fairy tales or in the dreams of the Alchemists. Not in the real world.