POWER SOURCE

Any comprehensive theory of evolution and creation must address the question of power source: What “foots the bill” in the energy-demanding process whereby Creation evolves from the simple to the complex? From a Torah perspective, the answer is elementary: It is the Life Force, Chaya, the Primal Will-to-Good of the Divine Mind that eternally creates and sustains the universe. This is the immanent, providential aspect of G‑d (as distinct from His transcendent, encompassing, super-rational Self). It is “the creative power in action through which HaShem becomes manifested in the world embodied as the Life force within Creation.”[26]

Thermodynamics

Within the framework of science, this question becomes more complicated.  A thorough response requires the following (albeit lengthy) explanation of the thermodynamics.

Thermodynamics is the science of the activity and the interrelationships of energy and matter.  It attributes the role of “driving force” to energy disparities within the universe and the “compulsion” of nature to eliminate them.

The character and direction of change in any physical system can be predicted from two fundamental laws:

1) The Law of the Conservation of Energy and Matter which states that although energy and matter are interchangeable, their sum total remains constant.  In other words, they can neither be created nor destroyed.

2) Entropy (the Second Law) which states that all systems tend invariably toward increasing randomness, chaos and equilibrium.  Water flows down hill, ice melts, gasses disperse, things decay, dishes pile up, mountains erode.  Entropy is the unit which scientists use to describe and measure the degree of randomness in a system.

There are no exceptions to these laws.  They are axiomatic, inviolate principles.  The distinguished physicist and astronomer Arthur Eddington ascribes to thermodynamics the “supreme position among the laws of nature”.[27] Thus, the universe is relentlessly and perpetually driven toward increasing equilibrium.  All activity in the cosmos – from the movement of electrons around a nucleus to the orbit of planets around a sun, from the complex metabolism of a human being to the locomotion of a paramecium – expresses this same thermodynamic force.  It is physical correlate of the metaphysical notion of Life Force.

The question arises: Isn’t there a contradiction between evolution and thermodynamics?  The former describes a process of increasing complexity and differentiation, while the latter predicts increasing chaos and homogeneity.  It seems like thermodynamics would be working against evolution.  Yet, this paper contends that the thermodynamic imperative is in fact the power source behind evolutionary development.

In actual fact, there is no conflict.  The two theories are reconciled in the following way: The sun is the primary supplier of physical energy to the earth.  Through the medium of photosynthesis and the food chain it provides the energy currency necessary for the continuation of life on all levels.  The residual energy stored in the chemical bonds of living systems after death becomes the fossil fuels which power our modern industrialized world.  It drives the hydrologic cycle of precipitation and of evaporation which is the indirect source of hydroelectric power.  In fact, except perhaps for earthquakes and tidal activity, all energy-related processes on earth rely directly or indirectly on the sun.

Two characteristics of solar energy endow it with a high degree of negative entropy,[28] a thermodynamically unfavored state of affairs.  First is the highly concentrated form in which the sun’s energy arrives on earth.  At the time that it enters our atmosphere, solar energy is confined to a relatively narrow range of possible wavelengths in the middle region of the electromagnetic spectrum, while entropy and the Second Law of Thermodynamics favor undifferentiated light at lower energy levels.  The second source of negative entropy is the huge discrepancy between the energy level of sunlight and the energy level of the earth.  Entropy favors an equilibration of this disparity which is accomplished through an erosion of the highly ordered energy configuration characterizing sunlight and/or a corresponding elevation of the vibratory level and organizational complexity of the biosphere (the earth and its life forms).

Living systems function as “catalytic agents” bringing about this balance in two ways:

1) Through photosynthesis, a by-product of which is the transformation of light into heat.

2) Through the biological cycles of life and death, whereby otherwise inaccessible and seemingly stable configurations of matter are made subject to this thermodynamic imperative.

1. The photosynthetic process transforms light energy into the bonding energy required for manufacturing organic molecules, i.e. carbohydrates (C₆H₁₂O₆).  We describe this chemical reaction as:

6CO₂ + 6CH₂O + light           C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂

Animals consume carbohydrates either directly (as in the case of herbivores) or indirectly (as in the case of carnivores).  They metabolize these molecules either completely (in which case all available energy is extracted) or incompletely (whereby only a partial extraction of energy occurs) and the remainder of the molecule is converted into a structural or enzymatically useful form.  The reaction that occurs upon complete metabolism of plant derived food is:

C₆H₁₂O₆ + 6O₂ 6CO₂ + 6H₂O + energy (90% heat)

Equations (1) and (2) would simply cancel each other out (nothing lost, nothing gained) were it not for the discrepancy in energy units.  Sunlight goes in; heat comes out.

This, then, is the answer to our question above: Because of the fact that sunlight is in a state of negative entropy, while heat is the energy configuration expressing the greatest degree of entropy, the food chain actually facilitates the thermodynamic flow of the planet.

2. The more sophisticated an organism is, the greater is the rate and magnitude of the thermodynamic transformation catalyzed both by its life and by its death.

Each localized reduction in entropy (i.e. the evolution of complexity in the hierarchy of living beings is accompanied by an even greater increase in total entropy.  Man represents the culmination of this relationship, for society itself creates order out of disorder, thus producing large scale but local entropy reductions.  The ceaseless urge of man to bring order out of his experiences so he may understand them gives rise to science, which is another example of entropy reduction ( i.e. negative entropy).  Even though society can effect local reductions in entropy, the general and universal trend of entropy increase easily swamps these anomalous but important efforts of civilized man.[29]