pacattack05: Galaxies have a center with orbiting entities. Solar systems have a center with orbiting entities. Stars have a center that have orbiting entities. Planets have a center with orbiting entities. Atoms have a nucleus with orbiting entities.
Good thing you only compared atoms with galaxies to make a point about existance of systems, b/c micro- and macrosystem are totally different from each other when it comes to physics. Not to mention the comparison between microsystems and clusters of galaxies.
pacattack05: Entropy is a strange entity, so to speak. It is the state where all matter decays, thus proving that evolution cannnot exist. Evolution is supposedly, always evolving, yet it's decaying. What gives?
Well, it depends against what (periodic) standard you measure "evolving". For example, evolution of mankind is at some speed now, intellectually. Yet, see what this evolution of mankind does to the non-intellectual things, namely the planet we live on. It seems to evolve in a negative way. So the question here is, which one from both is evolving positively. The answer does not have to be "mankind", depending on who's asking.
Anyway, in any closed system entropy will increase as time passes by. (second law of thermodynamics) --> let everything in your house as it is. Entropy will hit in such a way you could actually see its evolution.
It would be fantastic to remember the future instead of the past, but that is simply not the reality we live in.
The next part comes from Stephen Hawking. I had to look it up b/c i could not type it down exactly as he wrote it. (it's been several years now since i have read it...)
Its pretty hard reading, i guess in first case b/c of my poor translation, but it's interesting.
The psychological timearrow of a human being is the same as the psychological timearrow of a computer. If this wasn't so, we would win every lottery (SH used the stockmarket as example here instead of lottery) using a computer that remembered tomorrows draws.
Before any data is stored in the pc's RAM, for the example sake called "elements", the RAM is in a not-arranged state. Every possible position (0 or 1) for every element is not more and not less likely than the other. After action is taken, the elements will all be in 1 certain position. RAM has gone from chaos to order. To make sure that this happens, an amount of energy has to be used. This energy leaves the pc as warmth AND increases the amount of entropy/chaos in the universe. (the increasement of entropy is always greater than the increasement of order) The timedirection in which the pc "remembers" the past is equal to the timedirection in which entropy increases.
So, the human realizaton in the brain (as in "i realise that today is monday", e.g. b/c my poor English) is therefore determined by the thermodynamical timearrow. We, like a pc, must remember things in the order in which entropy increases.
So, entropy increases as time fly's by, b/c we measure time in the same direction as entropy increases. Can't get more solid than this.
The question that arises then; why must the universe at one side of time be in an arranged state? Why doesn't always stay in a total or pretty much total entropical manner?
The latter seems the most probable, does it not?
And why is the direction of time in which entropy increases equal to the one in which the universe expands?
(we make a jump here, to get to the point, i hope ;-)
The very young universe, was in an arranged state. Eventually, during the expansion fluctuations at molecular level will have been pretty small in the beginning, but eventually the expansion will be slowed down by area's with extra gravity. In the end such area's stopped expanding and instead collapsed and formed galaxies, stars and creatures like us. The universe will have started arranged and over time will have become not-arranged, also forming clusters of galaxies. This is an explanation for the existance of such a thing as the thermodynamical timearrow.
(jump again)
This brings us to the next question; will entropy decrease as the universe (might) shrink again?
This would mean that the timearrows will be reversed, b/c it has to return to a state of full order again. For SF-authors this would be magnificent. Imagine this: a cup of coffee falls from a table and splashes to pieces on the ground. That is how we see it now; order to chaos, bound to the timearrow. (3 arrows to be precise)
If the universe would return from chaos to order as it shrinks, then the cup of coffee would return to one piece and jump back onto the table.
Time would be reversed. Men would die before birth and getting younger as the universe shrinks.
No, it will not decrease. In fact, the universe will then fall in such a state where chaos will be no or just less than total.
In fact, the real question that we must ask then is: "why do we live in the period of expansion and not in the period of shrinking?"
The question is the answer.
During the shrinkperiod the curcomstances would not exactly be the best for intelligent creatures that asks questions like: "why does entropy increases in the same direction as the direction in which the universe is expanding?"
At that time, the shrinkperiod, all stars will have used there fuell and protons and neutrons inside those stars will most likely have been transformed to lightparticles.
Total chaos will then just be a small step away. The thermodynamical timearrow will have ceased to exists as we know it. Entropy no longer increases b/c chaos is (almost) complete.
And here is; a thermodynamical timearrow is absolutely necessary for the existance of intelligent life. To survive "men" must eat food, an arranged form of energy, that they transform into warmth, an not-arranged form of energy.
Intelligent life can simply not exist in the shrink period.
It gets even worse; By reading this book and remembering every word in it, your memory has taken and stored about 2 000 000 peaces (units) of information: the order in your brain has increased. In the meantime, while reading, you have at least transformed about a thousand calories of arranged energy, food, into not-arranged energy in the shape of warmth. This warmth that you produced is "given" to the surrounding air by transpiration and such.
This encreases the entropy in the universe by approximately 20 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 000 units.
That's about 10 000 000 000 000 000 000 times the increasement of order in your brains... And this only if you remember every word in this book.
End.
Evolution as we know it increases entropy in the universe. Our little corner in the universe is just a little arranged corner in a total surrounding of chaos. And by giving our corner more order, we increase the chaos. Or, by giving our corner more order, we work towards our own distruction.
For lotterygames, this would pretty much mean that one would study the patterns, just so he would be sure not to use them in future draws, b/c entropy will increase. Only in a lottery on a galactical timescale ofcourse. The few seconds in the total time the universe exists will not make the difference for us hunting down those, so they seem, uncatchable patterns.
Perhaps we just make them up as we go and they truly don't exist, just for the sake of our nature: bring/imagine order in chaos, or bring chaos into order.
I'm of now, in pursuit of patterns!!!