By
the Second Law of thermodynamics, which is observable in our Earth’s
environment and we believe it’s a cosmic law, disorder (entropy)
grows unrelentingly, every order (structure) decays. Any system, any
organized matter left alone for long enough becomes sameness. The
ultimate end is a random distribution of all matter, all atoms and
molecules in a thermal bath of uniform temperature.
The
growth of an organism creates and maintains an order and structure.
So, is life defying the Second Law? No, the process of living, like
all other processes involving matter, raises the total amount of
entropy in the Universe. On balance, to stay alive, the organism has
to consume more order than it creates - just compare food of any
living entity with its excrement. Order grows locally even as it
declines universally.
However,
in the spirit of Second Law, one would not expect life to be
possible, to originate, to persist. Who allowed the growth of local
order on the expense of ‘others’? And why?