Preparing for the Miraculous

eing human and the copernican principle 135are reminded of the Mother’s saying that materialism is thegospel of death.) The Earth, the Sun, our galaxy, the billionsof galaxies of our universe: all that is not living but dying.“Indeed, life is about half over. Our estimates are that thefirst living organisms appeared on earth in the order of 3 to4 billion years ago, and we know from stellar evolution thatour Sun will expand and burn up the Earth in another 3 to4 billion years, putting an end to everything,” writes RichardLewontin. George Smoot is even more explicit: “Coraggio,domani sará peggio! (Be courageous, tomorrow will beworse!) ... The long-term future is bleak: entropy will continueto increase ... Every physical process in the universefollows the second law of thermodynamics ... We face acontinuous downward spiral of no return.” Entropy is unforgiving.“Many scientists look worried these days ... Tobecome even a guarded optimist, you have to think hard.” 17(William Calvin)However, the consequences of the second law are validand verifiable only in case of the evolution of a system thatis energetically isolated, in other words: closed. Biologicalsystems are not closed. And is the universe a closed system?... “When the laws of thermodynamics are applied toliving organisms there seems to be a problem,” writes PaulDavies. “One of the basic properties of life is its high degreeof order, so when an organism develops or reproduces, theorder increases. This is the opposite of the second law’s bidding.The growth of an embryo, the formation of a DNAmolecule, the appearance of a new species and the increasingelaboration of the biosphere as a whole are all examplesof an increase of order and a decrease of entropy.” 18 “Thefamous law of increase of entropy describes the world as17 The last quotes are from a collection of short essays by scientists,edited by John Brockman: What Are You Optimistic About?18 Paul Davies: The Origin of Life, p. 28.