Re: Darwinian Mechanism of Mutation and Natural Selection Found Lacking

paratope.epitope@xxxxxxxxx <paratope.epitope@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:

[big snips]

First of all, there is no such thing as a closed system anywhere in
the universe. The only closed system is the universe itself, as far as
we know.

A "closed system" is a useful tool in Thermodynamics and it is
not necessary for a system to be _perfectly_ closed, only that
external energy and matter exchange occur on timescales much longer
than the changes of interest within the system.

Secondly, the earth radiates back into space an amount of
energy equal to that which it receives from the sun, minus that which
is stored in the process of photosynthesis.

No. Although if true it would be a perfect solution to global
warming, we just need more photosynthesis!
The Earth reradiates all the heat it gets from the Sun plus a
small amount of primordial heat as the Earth cools.
Actually I should amend that. The presence of coal and oil deposits
do indicate a long-term energy storage from Sun, although this fraction
is miniscule compared the the overall energy budget of the planet.
It does raise a curious question, though. Before humans began liberating
all that stored energy, had the process reached equilibrium in the 3.5+
billion years it had been occuring?

The question is, can this
energy from the sun cause molecules of carbon dioxide, nitrogen and
water to aggregate into amino acids and proteins? I don't think so.

In fact, it can and you already mentioned this above: photosynthesis.

I know the classic objection to this it to try and drag in pre-existing
"information" and such. But none of this is relevant to the thermodynamic
argument.

The only effect it would have, as far as I can see, is to make the
earth warm. If anything, it would create more disorder by increasing
the average kinetic energy of the molecules. No one to my knowledge,
has proposed a plausible mechanism by which order comes from disorder
under these conditions.

The entropy of non-interacting entities (such as different colored
balls in a box) can be discussed on terms of order and disorder.
If you want transfer the discussion to things like atoms, which
have interactions and energy exchange, colloquial notions of
order and disorder no longer apply. It is necessary to use entropy.
Armchair thermodynamic arguments are insufficient.

[rest deleted]

mike
--
mrjames@xxxxxxxx http://www.swcp.com/~mrjames/
"When you can measure what you are speaking about and express it
in numbers you know something about it; but when you cannot express
it in numbers your knowledge is a meagre and unsatisfactory kind"
- Lord Kelvin

.

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