On 3/18/2014 4:52 PM, Hal Ruhl wrote:
Hi John:
It is a distinct pleasure to hear from you.
To answer your question I think the narrowest characterization of the type of life I
talk about is that it is one of the possible processes within a universe that if
implemented increase the entropy of that universe.
But every process defined at the macro level does that - so it's not much of a
definition. I'd define life as a process in which systems reproduce, with variation, fast
enough that natural selection can act to produce evolution.
Further all such processes will be implemented in any universe in which they
are possible. Since entropy has a fixed maximum in a closed system (a universe)
But that's not true. An expanding universe in which maximum entropy is proportional to
the area of the hubble sphere doesn't have a fixed maximum. And on a more practical level
we are many orders of magnitude from the maximum.
then life must enable its own extinction.
"Enable" is vague. All of life on Earth would be wiped out by a nearby gamma-ray burster;
but life on Earth did nothing to "enable" that.
Brent
--
You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups
"Everything List" group.
To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email
to [email protected].
To post to this group, send email to [email protected].
Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list.
For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/d/optout.
