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up its differences as it goes from one conversion to another
and tends toward a final state of thermal equilibrium, "heat
death." In accordance with Fourier's law, in the end there will
no longer be any differences of temperature to produce a mechanical
effect.
Thomson thus made a dizzy leap from engine technology to
cosmology. Hs formulation of the second law was couched in
the scientific terminology of his time: the conservation of energy,
engines, and Fourier's law. It is clear, moreover, that the
part played by the cultural context was important. It is generally
accepted that the problem of time took on a new importance
during the nineteenth century. Indeed, the essential role
of time began to be noticed in all fields-in geology, in biology,
in language, as well as in the study of human social evolution
and ethics. But it is interesting that the specific form in which
time was introduced in physics, as a tendency toward homogeneity
and death, reminds us more of ancient mythological and
religious archetypes than of the progressive complexification
and diversification described by biology and the social sciences.
The return of these ancient themes can be seen as a
cultural repercussion of the social and economic upheavals of
the time. The rapid transformation of the technological mode
of interaction with nature, the constantly accelerating pace of
change experienced by the nineteenth century, produced a
deep anxiety. This anxiety is still with us and takes various
forms, from the repeated proposals for a "zero growth" society
or for a moratorium on scientific research to the
announcement of "scientific truths" concerning our disintegrating
universe. Present knowledge in astrophysics is still
scanty and very problematic, since in this field gravitational
effects play an essential role and problems imply the simultaneous
use of thermodynamics and relativity. Yet most texts
in this field are unanimous in predicting final doom. The conclusion
of a recent book reads:
The unpalatable truth appears to be that the inexorable
disintegration of the universe as we know it seems assured,
the organization which sustains all ordered activity,
frem men to galaxies, is slowly but inevitably
running down, and may even be overtaken by total gravitational
collapse into oblivion.t4