Originally posted by Paul Dirac
I am reading an article on galaxies in the current issue of Astronomy magazine. Here is a brief bit of the article:
[i]Even larger is NGC 6166, a supergiant cD galaxy that consumed a number of its smaller brethren. This 13th-magnitude object has in its core several nuclei, the remnants of smaller galaxies it shredded and consumed.
...[text shortened]... , never being processed, never supplying chemical energy to the being who tried to eat the food.
Hmmmm....A very interesting question Paul
Yes, I can believe that said catastrophic events could result from an act of God (imposing a judgement upon His creation, following thru, as it were, on what He said would happen 'you shall surely die.'😉
It's been 25 years since I graduated with a BS in geology, so, no, to the 'modern' physics question.
Now as to your interesting question: I never thought about a world without the second law. So, if it is in fact impossible to live without it, then it must have been in effect from the beginning, and my speculation concerning its introduction with the fall of man would be wrong.
I am not sure, however, that you can justly apply that law to the deliberate work of digestion. Digestion is an applied force, not an incidental effect like the tendency to disorder outside of an applied energy source like the sun, or a life force such as is sustained in our bodies (till we die, that is).
Entropy is easily countered by the applied intelligence of humans, and even by the unconscious application of living itself. After a tree dies, it begins to rot, but while it is living entropy can't overcome its agenda.
What do you think sir?