“If we are pawns of dark powers, then even our highest aspirations become a grim joke.” A Small Talent for War, The Twilight Zone

Life appears and grows, as if in defiance of entropy. In perhaps the most disturbing revelation in my reading on these matters, life instead can be shown to obey and even accelerate the process of destruction. It reminds of an episode from the new Twilight Zone series in the eighties, “A Small Talent for War“.

Unforgettable. The closing lines,

If we are pawns of dark powers, then even our highest aspirations become a grim joke. But if not, then no one will goad us toward world peace or take it away once we have achieved it. Doubters please note, you’ve just seen it achieved once, however briefly, in The Twilight Zone.

Life seems to defy entropy. In fact, life is an increasingly efficient method of obeying it.

Life seems to defy entropy. The second law of thermodynamics states that energy always moves from a state of high concentration toward a state of low concentration, towards equilibrium, heat death — in other words, everything goes to hell. Biological systems, life on earth, appear to buck this law.

Churned by the energy of the sun, the basic elements of physics formed complex molecules. Molecules evolved into complex patterns performing distinct functions. About three billion years ago, simple organisms emerged. Key to their success was genetics, the record of the past that permitted survival and more complex growth. The basic template of modern animals evolved, providing a spinal cord and skeleton. About 65 million years ago early mammals emerged. Fifteen million years ago, the first humanoids walked the earth. About half a million years ago, our species emerged, Homo sapiens with their larger brains.

Most things in the universe decay and disintegrate. Life appears and grows, as if in defiance of entropy. In perhaps the most disturbing revelation in my reading on these matters, life instead can be shown to obey and even accelerate the process of destruction. Piero Scaruffi explains the physics of life. Life is in a constant state of change. Our bodies are constantly being rebuilt from the resources we consume from our environment. We break down higher concentrations of energy into lower concentrations of energy. More complex and evolved beings break down matter even more efficiently. We certainly witness this truth in the escalating destruction of the environment by the human species. Life does not defy entropy. The trajectory of evolution is toward more efficient implementation of the second law of thermodynamics.

Scaruffi spells it out dramatically,

In the end, the purpose of life turns out to be death: Nature invented life on Earth as the most efficient process to reduce the gradient created by the Sun heating the Earth. The ultimate goal is to reestablish an equilibrium that will, incidentally, destroy all life when life will no longer be needed to reduce a gradient that life will have erased. The meaning of life is, ultimately, suicide.

It is a dark outlook. In the next post, I will step back from the science to reflect on what has been learned about the nature of reality and the meaning of life. I will then offer three of the five reasons to keep kicking at the dark.

The second law of thermodynamics may as well be written on stone tablets

Physics tells a new story of the beginning of the universe, a new Book of Genesis. Here is the short version. The “big bang” theory says that the universe is about 14 billion years old. At this time a big bang occurred. Time and space began. The early universe was in a hot dense state and  expanded rapidly. After a first expansion, the universe cooled sufficiently to allow energy to be converted into subatomic particles: protons, neutrons and electrons. Atoms were formed, the first being hydrogen, with traces of helium and lithium. Giant clouds of these elements later formed stars and galaxies. A little planet called Earth was formed.

The next stage might be called the Book of Exergy. The universe continues to expand and cool. A great exodus of energy is in progress to this day. Energy always moves from a state of high concentration toward a state of low concentration, towards equilibrium. This law is observable in everything. Take a glass of ice water in a warm room. With time the temperature of the water will match that of the room. This dynamic is called the Second Law of Thermodynamics. It is measured as entropy, a measure of dispersion of energy. The entropy of the warm room has decreased a little as the water cooled, but the overall entropy of the room and the water has increased. Within the “universe” of the room, a state of equilibrium has been reached, and no further work will be performed. “Exergy” is the amount of energy that can be extracted from a system to perform work. When a system has reached equilibrium no further work can be performed.

The second law of thermodynamics may as well be written on stone tablets. It explains just about everything. It explains why the heat of the wood stove in your living room moves toward your attic and basement. It explains why all systems fall apart without perpetual maintenance. It predicts the eventual heat death of the universe. There will be no free energy to sustain motion or life. Heat death is the long dark of physics.

If physics can answer the big questions once answered by religion, then physics effectively is religion

Apply heat to ice and it melts into water. Heat up water and it vaporizes into steam. Basic physics. Can physics explain human transformation too?

I am a reader. I have read many books on physics, such as A Brief History of Time by Stephen Hawking. I have read the physicists who claim religion in unnecessary, like A Universe from Nothing by Lawrence M. Krauss. I have read many books on the natural sciences, such as The Origin of the Species by Charles Darwin. I have read the biologists who claim religion is a fraud, like The God Delusion by Richard Dawkins.

I am persuaded there is a case to made, that physics and biology can answer the big questions once claimed by religion. What is the nature of reality? Who am I? What is the meaning of life? What is right and wrong? How shall I live my life? Is there life after death? The field that applies physics to the big questions is usually called cosmology. Physical cosmology studies the fate of the universe based on the laws of physics. This field is usually considered different from religious cosmology, which may advance creation theories. I suggest that if physics can answer the big questions once answered by religion, then physics effectively is religion. Physics does not suppose a God, but then neither does Buddhism. The big appeal of the sciences is that, unlike religion, its theories and laws can be tested, and amended with new data.

I am not a physicist or a biologist. I am a reader. I follow the way of books to enlightenment. In this essay series, I draw on the books I have read to make the case for physics as religion. If religion is physics, it is not a cheery picture. As I will show, physics predicts the eventual heat death of the universe, a long dark fate. Going into biology, we observe that while life seems to buck the long dark, it may only accelerate it in the long run. I will then turn to other books to examine the evolution of consciousness and its trajectory. The picture does not brighten. I will, however, give five solid reasons to keep kicking at the dark.

I also promise that by the end I will answer the question posed in this post and the previous one. If everything is energy vibrating at a frequency, can a human disappear into a new state? Can physics explain human transformation? Everything is just energy vibrating at a certain frequency. What if you applied the right type and quantity of energy to a person? Would it raise a person’s energy frequency and change their state? Would this person disappear?

Let’s get on with it …

Everything is energy at a frequency. Can a person change their frequency? Disappear?

Every kid knows the cosmic fun of physical play. As we grow older we learn other physical rushes, some of them complicated and wonderful, like sex. We forget the basic truth of physical energy. I went on with adulthood and a career, working in information technology, an indoor sedentary occupation. Like many, I adapted with physical releases not so wise, smoke and drink. Somewhere along the way I sold my bicycle. I put on weight. By mid-life I was in pretty rough shape.

I had to change my ways. I took my first fitness class, a “boot camp”: stretches, push-ups, power walking. Light stuff but it got me started. I left each class feeling like a million bucks. Soon I needed something more challenging. I took up boxing. Today I practice kettle bells. I ran a 10 kilometer race, reaching my goal of not coming last. Today I am preparing for my first half-marathon. I need these workouts two or three times a week at least. It is vital to my physical and mental health, to my spirit.

In that first boot camp there was a young woman who introduced herself as an “energy healer.” I learned that energy medicine is a branch of complementary medicine. A healer channels healing energy into a person through different techniques, usually touch. The conversation stimulated thought about the connection between body and spirit.

I am a reader. As always, I advance my knowledge through reading. In The Celestine Prophecy by James Redfield, the protagonist learns spiritual insights, raising his physical “vibration” to the point that he disappears to the sight of less evolved others. The idea of changing one’s physical vibration is a staple of the New Age. Practice meditation, become a vegetarian, abstain from sex, it all contributes to raising one’s frequency, so they say. As a child, I had Bible stories read to me. Later I read them on my own. I recalled similar stories of disappearance. Elijah and Jesus were lifted into heaven. Modern fundamentalists believe they will be raptured into heaven before the end of days. All of it seems pretty fantastic and unlikely to me.

Is it all just flakey nonsense? Apply heat to ice and it turns into water and then into steam. Throw enough energy at an atom and it unleashes an ungodly amount of energy. It all follows the laws of physics. After all, everything is just energy vibrating at a certain frequency. What if you applied the right type and quantity of energy to a person? Would it raise this person’s energy frequency and change their state? Would this person disappear?

Every kid knows the cosmic fun of physical play. Welcome to my new blog series.

Every kid knows the cosmic fun of physical play. I was a bookish kid, bespectacled by ten, always a book on hand, avoiding sports whenever I could. Still, rides on the teeter-totter, pushes on the swing, games of tag, rides on a bicycle, tromps through the woods: they all induced the physical rush that inspires a kid to know that life is wonderful.

Somehow we forget this basic truth. Physical effort is regarded as work, something to be avoided, something for which we invent technology. We come to think of physicality as the base part of our lives, and imagine that real joy and meaning must be beyond the physical, in some spiritual dimension.

I was reminded of the spiritual dimension of physical energy in a Tai Chi class I took years ago as 21-year old university student. It was winter at the time. The instructor offered the class early at eight in the morning. I had calculus class at nine. No time for the bus, I jumped on my mountain bike and pedaled through the deep Canadian winter snow. In the minus 20 Celsius temperatures the ride was freezing to the bone. By the time I got to class my fingers and toes were numb with cold. I was amazed to discover how the practice of Tai Chi sent energy (chi, they call it) rushing through my body, warming the very tips of my fingers and toes till they almost seemed on fire. It was an invigorating way to start my day. I knew there must be something beyond the ordinary about Tai Chi, but the class ended and I thought about it no more.

Welcome to my new blog series, The Way of Books: Physics as Religion and Five Reasons to Kick at the Dark. On January 1, I announced that “physics as religion” would be my blog theme this year. I wanted to explore the connections between health and fitness, body and mind, and to consider physics as a better candidate to answer the big questions than the traditional religions. I have written an advanced draft of an essay on this subject, and will now present it to you as a blog series over the next several weeks. This is the first post of many. I invite your comments.