PSI Blog 20230515 Why the Infinite Universe Will Never Reach “Thermal Equilibrium”
As Einstein admitted, everything in the universe is moving
with respect to other things.
We occasionally give free books to readers who present the
best questions. Here is a good one from Olaf Schlüter who asks:
How come that an eternal universe hasn't reached thermal
equilibrium and maximum entropy yet as it would be predicted by thermodynamics?
The universe we live in hasn't achieved none of that by now.
[GB: Olaf, thanks so much for your astute question.
Let me first explain for others what equilibrium means. An
equilibrium occurs when outputs and inputs reach a relative standoff. For instance,
a helium balloon in earth’s atmosphere illustrates the temporary equilibrium
between the helium molecules within and the nitrogen molecules without. Coincidentally,
I presented "The Scientific Worldview" as the philosophy of
univironmental determinism (what happens to a portion of the universe depends
on the infinite matter within and without). Univironmental determinism also
happens to be the universal mechanism of evolution that I proposed as the
general replacement for Neo-Darwinism, which is only a special case limited to
biology.
Univironmental Analysis
We invented the word “univironment” to emphasize the
critical connection between each XYZ portion of universe (defined as a
“microcosm”) and its nearby environment (defined as the “macrocosm”). As Olaf implied,
the general tendency is for microcosms to reach univironmental equilibrium with
their macrocosm. The trouble is, with everything in the Infinite Universe being
in motion, no permanent equilibrium is possible.
The Second Law of Thermodynamics (SLT)
The figure above is what we use to explain how the SLT works. Chamber A is filled with gas and chamber B is a vacuum. Turning the intervening valve allows the gas molecules to enter chamber B under their own inertia. Inertia was described by Newton’s First Law of Motion (Every microcosm continues in uniform motion until the direction and velocity of its motion is changed by collisions with supermicrocosms.)[1] An equilibrium occurs when the number of gas molecules in both chambers is roughly equal. We also say that the result has been an increase in entropy.
The SLT only applies to systems that are ideally isolated.
As shown in the figure, no matter or motion inputs are allowed. The SLT is what
we call a “systems theory.” The problem with systems theory, however, is that it
tends to over emphasize the microcosm and deemphasize the macrocosm (the
outsides of things). In other words, that is what “isolation” amounts to. The
Big Bang Theory is the archetype of such a theory. Whether imagined as a
fantastic 4-dimensional space-time system or as a system surrounded by
perfectly empty space, it satisfies the main criteria for application of the
SLT: isolation.
Although the SLT is nice for describing local equilibria, it
is only an idealization. Again, there are no truly isolated systems in the
universe. In fact, if chamber A was perfectly isolated, being a finite system
unto itself, there would be no vacuum chamber for its gas molecules to enter. The
SLT would not even work if the isolation of any system was perfect. The misbegotten
“heat
death of the universe” trope presupposes that the universe is finite and
isolated. In addition, the “heat” imagined therein supposedly occurs as the
magical energy that travels as matterless motion through Einstein’s imagined perfectly
empty space.
SLT and Infinite Universe Theory
Infinite Universe
Theory aptly assumes the Sixth Assumption of Science, complementarity (All things are subject to divergence and
convergence from other things). For that to be true, the Eighth Assumption of
Science, infinity (The universe is infinite, both in the
microcosmic and macrocosmic directions) also has to be true. These two
fundamental assumptions are consupponible: That is, you can assume both without
contradiction. Although fundamental assumptions like these never can be
completely proven, their logic supplies elegance to Infinite Universe Theory as
a replacement for the Big Bang Theory. In addition, complementarity
provides the resolution of the SLT-order paradox.[2]
That answers the question: If the Second Law of Thermodynamics produces only
disorder, how come there is so much order all around us?
According to Collingwood, fundamental assumptions like those
above always have opposites, which also cannot be completely proven. In this
case, they are the Sixth Assumption of
Religion, noncomplementarity (All things are subject to divergence from
all other things) and the Eighth Assumption of Religion, finity (The
universe is finite, both in the microcosmic and macrocosmic directions). We
call them religious because their logic ultimately leads to an imagined creation
and an imaginary creator. Also, according to Collingwood, if one of the
fundamental assumptions is correct, then its opposite has to be incorrect.
Because most folks
are religious or have religious backgrounds, the religious assumptions are
taken for granted, though seldom admitted as such by today’s physicists who must therefore be considered “regressive” in their
assumptive leanings toward cosmogony (the study of the beginning of the
universe).
Another important assumption is the Fourth Assumption of
Science, inseparability (Just as there is no motion without matter, so
there is no matter without motion). With this assumption we can analyze the
Second Law of Thermodynamics in terms of matter and the motion of matter. In
the Infinite Universe any matter or the motion of matter diverging from one
microcosm continues on to form yet another microcosm elsewhere. Actually, each
microcosm and its containing submicrocosms appear as temporary interruptions in
Newton’s First Law of Motion.
Still another is the Fifth Assumption of Science, conservation
(Matter and the motion of matter can be neither created nor destroyed). This is
the first of at least 20
falsifications of the Big Bang Theory. Coincidentally, it is what 9-year-old
genius David Balogun used to best cosmogonist Neil deGrasse Tyson in destroying
the Big Bang Theory forthwith. In the present discussion, conservation, which has
never been falsified, would not necessarily prevent universal equilibrium. If
one assumed the Eighth Assumption of
Religion, finity (The universe is finite, both in the microcosmic and
macrocosmic directions) one could imagine an equilibrium of the “ultimate
constituents” of matter. As imagined by the atomists, these would have to be
perfectly spherical solid particles that were all identical. Nonetheless, no
such things could ever exist per the
Ninth Assumption of Science, relativism (All things have characteristics that make them
similar to all other things as well as characteristics that make them
dissimilar to all other things). That assumption, too, is consupponible with infinity.
And, as alluded to
above, the imagined “heat death of the universe” supposedly would produce a
final equilibrium in which all the mass of the universe was converted into
energy, construed as matterless motion. This also is a common part of the creed
of regressive physics and cosmogony—that is where the dark energy trope comes
from. Be reminded that energy neither exists nor occurs—it is merely a
calculation describing matter in motion. In particular, mass is not converted
magically into the energy construed as matterless motion. But it is true as
Martin Gardner wrote: “As the coffee cools, mass is lost.”[3]
How can that be possible if we don’t have matterless motion? My widely read
paper on that subject explained that the submicrocosm motion responsible for
the resistance we call mass is transferred across the univironmental boundary
to the supermicrocosms in the macrocosm.[4]
In the coffee case, those supermicrocosms happen to be your skin cells if you
are unlucky or air molecules if you are lucky. Lacking an atmosphere or other
baryonic particles, it necessarily would involve aether particles, whose
particle-to-particle collisions, allow the transfer of motion throughout the
universe.
Like all microcosmic
motion in the Infinite Universe, wave motion in the aether medium is not merely
unidirectional. Per complementarity, that motion diverges from luminous objects
and converges toward them. Stars emitting the motion we call light also are
subject to light from other stars emitting light. Every microcosm in the Infinite
Universe is in motion with respect to other microcosms.
Conclusion
Infinite Universe Theory is in agreement with Einstein that
all things in the universe are in motion with respect to other things. Of
course, with the universe being infinite, there is no “first cause” required to
set the universe into motion, for its various parts already are in motion,
having received collisions from still other microcosms in the Infinite Universe,
ad infinitum. There may be a temporary equilibrium for any particular microcosm
when it forms from the supermicrocosms in its macrocosm. But, because its
resulting submicrocosms are continually in motion, the eventual divergence of
its constituents and their motion[5] is
inevitable. For every death there must be a birth. For every divergence there
must be a convergence. There is no rest for the weary in the Infinite Universe.]
[1] As modified in “Infinite Universe Theory.” I define a
microcosm as an xyz portion of the universe and a supermicrocosm as a microcosm
existing outside that microcosm.
[2] Borchardt, Glenn, 2008, Resolution
of the SLT-order paradox, Proceedings of the Natural Philosophy Alliance:
Albuquerque, NM, v. 5 [10.13140/RG.2.1.1413.7768].
[3] Gardner, Martin, 1962, Relativity for the Million:
New York, Macmillan, p. 66.
[4] Borchardt, Glenn, 2009, The physical meaning of
E=mc2, Proceedings of the Natural Philosophy Alliance: Storrs, CN, v. 6, no. 1,
p. 27-31 [10.13140/RG.2.1.2387.4643]. [This shows why aether often is necessary
for transmitting submicrocosmic motion to the macrocosm.]
To read this and its updates on Medium, click here here.
On
Medium.com you can read more than three essays monthly by joining for $5/month.
Half of your
membership fee supports the endowment of the Progressive Science Foundation,
which will continue advancing Infinite Universe Theory as the ultimate
replacement of the Big Bang Theory. You’ll also get full access to every story
on Medium. Just click here.
When on
Medium, you can clap 50 times to aid the foundation, follow me, and subscribe
to get these weekly essays directly in your inbox.
