Reversing entropy

[BundleflowerPower]

So I read "the last question" by Isaac Asimov, right before I started having entheogenic experiences, it's stuck with me ever since. Who's read this, and do you think entropy can ever be reversed?

http://www.multivax.com/last_question.html

 

[hixidom]

I read The Last Question based on your mentioning it and it was amazing.

To answer your question, I don't think entropy can be reversed. I'm not sure how much you know about entropy but I'll explain the mainstream understanding of entropy in simplified terms...
Entropy increases not because it is determined but rather because it is extremely likely that it do so. I.e. there is nothing to keep the universe from transitioning from a state of high entropy to a state of low entropy. However, the universe transitions between entropy states somewhat randomly and it just so happens that there are vastly more higher entropy states than there are lower entropy states. That's why entropy increase is always favored by shear probability alone.

So knowing that entropy almost never decreases, I'd ask if life and entropy are truly at odds with each other. Looking at the Wiki page on "Heat death of the universe", it says

The heat death of the universe is a historically suggested ultimate fate of the universe in which the universe has diminished to a state of no thermodynamic free energy and therefore can no longer sustain processes that consume energy (including computation and life).

However, unlike all computation performed by computers to date, reversible computation does not result in entropy increase. Therefore, based on my naive understanding of RC, I think it might be possible for RC, and thus life, to continue even after the heat death of the universe.

Furthermore, if the universe were in it's maximum-entropy state, there is nowhere for it to transition but to a state of lower entropy (see Loschmidt's paradox). Though it may quickly transition back to the maximum-entropy state, perhaps there would be a way to take advantage of the slight decrease in entropy when it occurs. Also, I suppose one way around it is to control one's location in time. For example if one can travel to a previous time in the universe, they have effectively lowered the entropy of the entire universe (from their perspective, at least).

Finally, entropy is just a law of the universe as we know it. As in the last chapters of The Last Question, there may very well be aspects of reality that transcend the idea of entropy.

 

[Nathanial.Dread]

Sure, reverse the flow of time.

Blessings
~ ND

 

[arcologist]

Life is one of the few things in the universe that can locally decrease entropy by self-assembling into complex biological systems. Give that life intelligence (e.g. humans) and it will transform its environment into a state of lower entropy by creating highly-ordered structures (books, computers, buildings, etc).

This talk has some really interesting ideas about entropy and biology and its relationship to endocannabinoids:

 

[Nathanial.Dread]

Life is one of the few things in the universe that can locally decrease entropy by self-assembling into complex biological systems. Give that life intelligence (e.g. humans) and it will transform its environment into a state of lower entropy by creating highly-ordered structures (books, computers, buildings, etc).

This talk has some really interesting ideas about entropy and biology and its relationship to endocannabinoids:

We only decrease entropy locally though - the sum total of entropy always increases. Eddington wrote:

The law that entropy always increases holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell's equations — then so much the worse for Maxwell's equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation — well, these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation.

Blessings
~ND

 

[hixidom]

Not sure how I feel about his jab at experimentalists. :roll:

 

[5 Dimensional Nick]

Entropy can go the opposite direction but by its definition and the laws of physics coupled with math it will always be MASSIVELY more likely to go the way it usually goes.