Index to Creationist Claims,  edited by Mark Isaak,    Copyright © 2005

Previous Claim: CF001.2   |   List of Claims   |   Next Claim: CF001.4

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Claim CF001.3:

Source:

Response:

1. That claim is pure fantasy. The second law of thermodynamics says absolutely nothing about programs to direct growth, and the only "power converter" it deals with is change in entropy. Growth and order can be seen arising without a program in many places. Clouds form complex orderly patterns. Streams sort the size of the stones in their bed along their length. Cooling basalt forms a hexagonal pattern of cracks. All of these show an increase in organization, and none involve any program.
   
   
2. Increasing order is not a violation of the second law of thermodynamics, even temporarily. A violation would be a decrease in entropy without a greater increase in entropy to go with it. Neither growth nor evolution violate the second law of thermodynamics because both take advantage of local differences in entropy to get work done.
   
   
3. Evolution has a program; it is called the environment. Natural selection serves to communicate information from the environment to the populations of organisms (Adami et al. 2000).
   
   
4. An increase in organized complexity is not the same as a decrease in entropy. The second law applies only to entropy; it says nothing at all about organized complexity as such.

References:

Further Reading: