
How the Second Law Nearly Fell into a Black Hole - prostoalex
http://nautil.us/issue/68/context/how-black-holes-nearly-ruined-time
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Fej
"But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I
can give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest
humiliation."

\- Arthur Eddington

Another great quote:

"A theory is the more impressive the greater the simplicity of its premises,
the more different kinds of things it relates, and the more extended its area
of applicability. Therefore the deep impression that classical thermodynamics
made upon me. _It is the only physical theory of universal content which I am
convinced will never be overthrown,_ within the framework of applicability of
its basic concepts."

\- Albert Einstein

~~~
russdill
I feel like thermodynamics must be true in pretty much any conceivable
universe that evolves over time.

~~~
corey_moncure
If you had to simulate such a universe in a computer program, how would you do
it? What would it look like?

Perhaps instead of Brownian motion you'd have something more directed.
Scientists inhabiting the universe would observe a "force" that brings
elements of like kind together into nice orderly structures instead of random
soups. It would be as if time ran in reverse. Perhaps instead of a big bang,
the initial state would be a flat universe with just the minutest of
perturbations in the energy gradient that would gradually evolve into a state
of maximum order.

~~~
unparagoned
Once you take into account the force, you will still have the second law. Or
you are just looking at the universe in reverse and once you look at the arrow
of time it's all normal again.

