> Because I don't agree with > that, I'm looking for > profound arguments against that costly influence.
>From Jean Bricmont's essay "Science of Chaos or Chaos in Science" in _The Flight From Science and Reason_, ed. Paul Gross, et al: "As discussed in Penrose [R. Penrose, 'The Emperor's New Mind' and 'On the Second Law of Thermodynamics'], the earth does not gain energy from the sun (that energy is reradiated by the earth), but low entropy; the sun sends (relatively) few high-energy photons, and the earth reradiates more low-energy photons (in such a way that the total energy is concerved). Expressed in terms of 'phase space,' the numerous low-energy photons occupy a much bigger volume than the incoming high-energy ones. So the solar system, as a whole, moves towards a larger part of its phase space while the sun burns its fuel." Nice, but is there a meaningful amount to cover all human uses? I turn to "The Skeptical Environmentalist" by Bjorn Lomborg (though, since environmentalists have equated him with holocoust sympathizers, you will want to go to his source material and avoid using his name), and look at figure 73 on page 133 (in the chapter on energy). It shows, inter alia, total annual [human] energy consumption (400EJ), total plant photosynthesis (1,260EJ), and ANNUAL solar radiation (2,895,000EJ). Taking that surplus of solar energy (2,895,000 - 1,260) and asking a physcist or chemist to interpret that surplus in terms of entropy (if that's possible or even meaningful), I think you will be able to show that there is plenty of low entropy out there for human consumption for a long time to come. Also, though not directly related, if you seek discussions of entropy in lay-man's terms, you might try turning to the creationist/evolution debate in the States. Creationists love to claim that evolution violates entropy, so scientists have spent alot of time explaining entropy in simple terms. You could try www.infidels.org and go to their library section, also www.talkorigins.org has pages somewhere in their site that discuss entropy. Good luck! jsh __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Yahoo! Tax Center - online filing with TurboTax http://taxes.yahoo.com/
