Mayr: What Evolution is, 2001, states that “it is sometimes claimed that evolution, by producing order, is in conflict with the ‘law of entropy’ of physics, according to which evolutionary change should produce an increase of disorder. Actually there is no conflict, because the entropy law is valid for closed systems only, whereas the evolution of a species of organisms can reduce entropy at the expense of the environment and the sun supplies a continuing input of energy.”
Creationists are right in the sense that random events do not produce order. But they have produced an enormous amount of disorder (average information) represented by millions of different species and billions of different individuals in certain species, in agreement with the entropy law. Because a more widespread gene pool with longer DNA-messages tends to be more disordered. The order in the biologic sphere was biggest when only one species ruled the roost. Disorder/entropy may also be called biological diversity because – as I see it – there is no reason to distinguish between disorder and diversity because it is the same random evolution, giving rise to both.
The illusion of order in the biologic sphere seems to be due to the fact that only a very tiny little fraction of all possible DNA-messages may manifest themselves as living organisms. Thus, the disorder becomes restricted, and this restricted disorder is commonly being interpreted as order. Intuitively, this may be understood, if we observe that the duality order-disorder is like cold-warmth. Actually there must not be any cold, only limited warmth.
Because of the equivalence between disorder and average information we may also say that a more disordered genepol (in balance with the mean fitness) gives more information in the art of survival.
Gkm
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