Living systems do produce complex, high-entropy states, as a matter of fact. Yes, that leads to universal heat death faster if they keep on, but—so what?
Someone whose name escapes me has argued that this is why living systems exist—the universe tends towards maximum entropy, and we’re the most efficient way of getting there. Let’s see how much energy we can waste today!
Living systems do produce complex, high-entropy states, as a matter of fact. Yes, that leads to universal heat death faster if they keep on, but—so what?
Someone whose name escapes me has argued that this is why living systems exist—the universe tends towards maximum entropy, and we’re the most efficient way of getting there. Let’s see how much energy we can waste today!
There’s a few of us. My pages on the topic:
http://originoflife.net/gods_utility_function/ http://originoflife.net/bright_light/
See also:
http://en.citizendium.org/wiki/Life/Signed_Articles/John_Whitfield
The main recent breakthrough of our understanding in this areas is down to Dewar—and the basic idea goes back at least to Lotka, from 1922.