Entropy and Selection: Life as an Adaptation for Universe Replication

Abstract EN

“Another, related meaning of entropy is that it is a measure of disorganization.

The atoms in a gas are disordered to the extent that there is no way to tell one from another.

In equilibrium there is maximal disorder, because every atom moves randomly, with the same average energy as any other atom.

A living system, on the contrary, continually creates an enormous number of different kind of molecules, each of which generally perform a unique function.

The entropy of a living thing is consequently much lower, atom for atom, than anything else in the world.”