Re: 2nd law clarifications

On 2/01/2025 5:53 pm, MarkE wrote:

Are these statements correct? Could they be better expressed?
  Local entropy can decrease in an open system with an input of free energy.
 Free energy alone is not sufficient to maintain or further decrease low local entropy: an energy capture and transformation mechanism is also needed.
 Extant life *maintains* low local entropy through its organisation and processes.
 Evolving life *decreases* low local entropy through the ratcheting mechanism natural selection acting on random mutations in instances where that evolution increases functional complexity and organisation.
 There is no other known mechanism apart from natural selection that does this. For example, neutral drift alone increases entropy.
 

PS The efficacy of natural selection acting on random mutations to ratchet complexity and reduce entropy is of course a separate topic of debate, but assume it for this discussion.