On 8 January 2014 13:14, Jesse Mazer <laserma...@gmail.com> wrote: > >> The expansion of the universe is the most likely explanation for the >> entropy gradient - there are a number of ways in which it generates >> "negative entropy", briefly some of these are... >> >> - Quarks can become nucleons when the universe expands and cools >> enough >> - Nucleons can become nuclei when the universe expands and cools >> enough >> - Plasma can become atoms when the universe expands and cools enough >> - Gas can become stars when the universe expands and cools enough >> >> ...and there are probably a few others I've missed. >> > > I don't think Price would agree with you there, since your argument tries > to show that known dynamical laws alone guarantee entropy increases with > expansion, and as I said he is talking about speculative ideas about > unknown future theories (like the Hawking "no boundary" proposal which > represents a speculation about quantum gravity) that might explain the > boundary conditions themselves. > > Sure. My other half has corresponded with Prof Price on this, so I know he's operating at a higher level of speculation, and ultimately one comes down to the Big Bang, which isn't explained by the above of course. However, the above list is sufficient to show that something very like the thermodynamic arrow can be derived from universal expansion, simply through a series of "relaxations" of the cosmic fluid - i.e. through simple dynamical processes that become possible successively as the universe grows less dense. I don't think Price would object to this as far as it goes.
However, as Price has shown, all the quantum weirdness may be resolved a lot more simply than we think, and it's possible that the arrow of time can be too - they are both fixed simply by noticing a couple of "elephants in the room" that have been largely ignored for no obvious *physical *reason (though the psychological reasons seem fairly clear - they are both rather counter-intuitive). -- 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 everything-list+unsubscr...@googlegroups.com. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
