Entropy

I wonder, does G have entropy?
Or should I wonder, is G subject to entropy?
 

"Of course not", T (short for theist), replies, "G Created entropy, along with all the other laws of nature, and so is not subject to them. They're his laws, and therefore G can bend, break, or abrogate them as he sees fit!"
 

Oh hell. Shot down before I even got started. Guess I'll just go eat a Heath Bar and watch "reality" TV with my cat. : (
 

(To self), "Oh man, Reality TV? Am I that desperate? Let me think about this for a minute..."

Thinking... thinking... wait... yes?... no, darn it... still thinking... hmmm... Ding!

Aha! I get it! So, what you're saying is that whenever G has a fit, it's called a miracle!

"Yes! Right!...  No! No no no! That's not what I meant!"

Darn! Just when I thought I had it.

Anyway

This thought occurred to me the other day while chatting online with my nephew. (It was either that or Hot Chicks in Bikinis. But entropy is much more interesting - though I have to say that Hot Chicks look much better in bikinis - and I was trying to set a good example....)

Now, if G is omniscient, and omnipotent, G certainly cannot exist within the same universe as we, his supposed creation, do, as Gs existence within our universe would violate ALL sorts of laws, i.e. If G is omniscient, then G has to know both the position AND the velocity of all the subatomic particles in the universe at all times. Which could, one would think,  lead to evidence of Gs existence being unequivocally observed. Unless it is possible for G to accurately measure (know) both the position and momentum of any particle continuously for all time without actually interacting with it in any way. (Except for those miraculous occasions when G sees fit.) Which would certainly constitute a miracle, albeit a very small one, well, until you multiply it by the total number of particles in the universe. But that would seem to take us back to a totally deterministic universe, and then "free will" rears its ugly head.

Unless you're a Calvinist.

So G, if he exists, must exist outside our universe. (I'll dink around with the idea of whether or not the universe exists in or outside of G some other time.)

Anyway...

Since G has to know all that it is logically possible to know, and must be able to do all things it is logically possible for G to do, this would seem to indicate that in G not only is "there no east or west", but also, that in G there must exist very low, (OK, zero) entropy. And Gs non existent entropy can never change (increase), since, by definition, entropy is a measure of disorder, and G, being omniscient, aka having complete and perfect knowledge, must be in a state of perfect and complete order.  In addition, G being infinite being, nothing can either be added to, nor subtracted from, G. Again, zero entropy. (Does your head hurt? My head hurts.)

And that is not what is observed in this universe.

I freely admit I may be wrong here, since I'm neither a philosopher, a theist, nor a physicist. I'm just doing this for fun. (Or for the Halibut. (Sorry. Alaskan inside joke.))

If G is infinite, (even though some theists argue that an actual infinite is impossible, excepting, of course, G, (who always gets a free ride), who is the immaterial infinite ground of all being, the unmoved mover, the first cause, the what have you, and is therefore, by definition, exempt from that limitation, which means, therefore, that G can be an actual infinite, which, of course, is incontrovertible proof that G must exist!)

But I digress.

Anyway, if G is infinite, and has perfect knowledge, then G, by definition, must be in a state of perfect order. Sooooooo, while there is, one would presume, only ONE possible state of perfect infinite order, how many possible disordered states could an actual infinite being have?

I'm thinkin Infinity to the Infinity-ith (I mean, flip a single frickin bit, and it all goes to hell!)

But I suspect that's immaterial.

Still it certainly seems much more likely to me that G, (if he exists), exists in a state of, (I will admit possibly perfect), disorder. Since there are a lot more of those states than states of perfect order.

Leading me back to entropy.  

Since G, obviously, cannot exist within his creation, G must, necessarily, exist outside of his creation i.e. the universe. Wherever that outside may be. Or not be. (I didn't say "our" universe because today is not about possible multiverses.) 

And also, let us say that G is immaterial. (Whatever the hell that means.)

So, let's see if I've got this straight; an immaterial being, through an act of pure will, has created the material universe.

Again I digress - Why?

I have NO idea why an infinite immaterial being, which exists, (immaterial being existing? what, exactly, could that possibly mean?) outside of, or beyond, (what? before this act of pure will there was no spacetime, or anything material, for this immaterial being to exist outside of), again, why would this absolute and perfect, complete, (remember all the "omni" qualities?), immaterial being, existing, timeless, spaceless, interacting solely with itself, eternal and unchanging... why would it decide anything, since deciding involves choice, and choice involves change, and change involves ENTROPY!



Anyway, we'll take it as given that G, (after having, for whatever "known only to G" reasons, created the universe, and us), that G, eternally, infinitely, immaterially existing outside of spacetime, chooses to interact regularly with  his creation, i.e. us. (Evidently he botched the job initially, and so has to keep tinkering. In the hope, I suppose, that eventually he'll get it right. Except that hope implies uncertainty about the future, and G, by def, is omniscient, so he really ought to have known these things from the very beginning, which would make hope impossible, but then.... )

So... Wait a minute... I finally get it! 


G is The Squire of Gothos!


(Gotcha! Hah! Bet you thought I'd seen the light for a minute there.)



This creates another problem. 

G is immaterial being, we are material beings, in a material world, how, exactly, does G interact with us?

Through the soul? That's all well and good. For the moment I'll see your  soul. And I'll raise you the laws of physics.

G isn't only reputed to talk to certain people. G is reputed to intervene directly in the  material world by doing things like:


Covering the entire planet with at least 29,050.5 more feet of water than are currently found on it. [see below]

Stopping the sun in the sky.

Turning rivers to blood.

Plaguing people with locusts, and gnats, and boils, and mice, and hemorrhoids, and I don't know what all.
Saving random people for unknown reasons in mass casualty events.

Directly or indirectly murdering all the first born children. (G seems excessively fond of firstborns, and not in a good way.)

Etc, etc, etc....



In order to do these things G has to interact with, or even create, material things. (29,050.5 feet of water!) G has to change the entropy of that thing. For G to change the path of a single electron, G must either exert force on that electron, or cancel a force that would otherwise act on that electron, (G, being infinite and omnipotent, loses nothing from the expenditure, but we get something for free!) and in doing so G will alter the entropy of the entire universe.

Energy has to be exchanged. (Even if G then subtracts an equal amount of energy from somewhere else to balance the books.)

Though why G should find it needful to do that, except from a desire to hide his hand in things, I don't know, since, as I understand it, the entire purpose of miracles is "that people may believe". 



So, when I see an electron travel a perfectly straight path while passing through an intense magnetic field, or travel a curved path in the absence of either a magnetic or gravitational field, I'll know I've seen a serious miracle!

Now, G being an infinite immaterial being, it might be a little difficult to determine any increase in his entropy. (G being in a state of most likely zero entropy, his entropy can only increase.) But it's fairly easy to detect excess or missing energy, a change in entropy, in our world. (Just leave a window open at twenty below if you don't believe me.)



Well, the LHC can detect the missing mass/energy of a neutrino. An object so small, and bearing so little mass/energy that we haven't been able assign it an accurate weight yet. 



I think a miracle will weigh a lot more than a neutrino.

In fact, I think, if we're going to be scientific about it, that we should calculate the energy required for an actual miracle!

Physicists! How many eVs for casting out a demon? Creating enough food to feed the 5,000. Changing water to wine!

Miracles are supposedly G violating or suspending his known laws of the universe, if the laws are changed, or suspended, or if entropy were to move "backward", it will leave a mark.

We'll call it "Gs Fingerprint". 



So obviously what we need is less scripture, and more CSI!

- Just for the hell of it. How about a little CSI. (Yes it's true, I think Emily Proctor is Hot!)

Treating the earth as a perfect sphere. (Math is not my forte.) BUT, (if I did this right, and my sources gave the right numbers), when you cover the entire earth with an additional 29,050.5 feet of water - that's at least 15 cubits above the top of Everest - oh hell I'll round up to 30,000, after all, Everest might have been taller before the flood!  you're looking at an increase in the earths total mass in excess of 4.643274239999999^21 kgs. 



Actually, it will be considerably more than that, as I did not calculate the increase in total volume due to the increasing circumference of the sphere. Primarily 'cause that would take me for fricken ever. (That's right, I never even made it through pre-algebra!)

Hmmm... Let's see, for every increase in the radius of the sphere, the total surface area of the sphere will increase @ a rate of 4πr^2, and volume increases @ 4/3 (or is it 3/4?) πr^3, so every foot of additional water means x more acre feet of water... lets see... 43,560 sq ft per acre... approx 62 lbs per cubic foot of water... so... 30,000 foot increase in radius... area... total volume...  times x # of total cubic feet...

Oh fer chrissake! you want to know the exact number, you figure it out!

 It's a lot!

And all this water was added over a period of 960 hours. That = a rainfall rate of 375 inches per hour! that's 6.25 inches per minute! (If I split the difference between rain and the fountains of the deep I get 187.5 inches per hour or 3.125 per minute.)

If there are any planetary physicists out there who are really bored and have nothing better to do, would you be so kind as to calculate what effect a mass increase of that magnitude in that short period of time would have on: 


Earths total gravity?
Earths speed of rotation?

(It would have seriously tweaked the Lagrangian point between earth and moon.)
Earths gravitational relationship with the moon?

Earths gravitational relationship with the sun? (Orbital velocity?)

Earths gravitational relationship with mars and venus?



(We're talking 150 days at max weight, almost 1/2 the total orbit.)

Meteorologists:

What sort of wind velocities could we expect at sea level, on an earth with no mountains to get in the way?

Geophysicists:


What effect would the weight of a 30,000 foot water column have on the lithosphere. 

 (That works out to approx.  12,916.6 lbs of pressure per sq inch, (1,860,000 lbs per sq ft), at our current "sea level". )

Actually, it would be more than that, due to the increase in gravity as an effect of the increase in mass. (Again, if you're bored, go for it and calculate away!)

Remember, non-scientific folks, in places the water column would have exceeded 66,000 feet. 

The additional mass would affect the earth all the way to it's core.

So, I would think, as the flood happened somewhere between 2959 and 2349 BCE*, (depending on whose calculations/chronology you trust), and given we can accurately measure the ongoing surface effects of the loss of the ice sheets - which were a mere 5 to 10 thousand feet thick, and did not cover the entire planet - 12,000 to 10,000 years ago, (parts of southeast Alaska are still rising at a rate, in places, of > 2 inches a year!) then we should certainly be able to observe the continuing geophysical effects from the application and removal of the weight of a 30,000 foot water column a mere 4969 to 4359 years ago. 
 
; )



Oh, speaking of ice sheets, the entire Antarctic and Greenland ice sheets, plus every glacier on the planet, would, naturally, have floated away, and the Arctic ice sheet would no longer have been contained within the continental margins of Europe, Greenland, and North America.  (Making for some big ass icebergs!) Presenting serious navigation hazards for Noah and family. (And you thought the Titanic was a tragedy!)



Did the ice all melt in 300 days? Or did they manage, somehow, to land right back where they started. (If the Antarctic ice sheet had landed in the Sahara would it have completely melted by now? Do you think anyone would have noticed?)

If it all melted during the flood, would it be possible for all the ice we see currently to form in 4359 - 4969 years or less?

 We know historically the ice has been at its present thickness since circa 985 CE. (That would mean approx 10,000 feet of ice for Greenland and Antarctica forming realllllllly fast.)
 
And what would be the story with Ötzi? At 5,300 years old he's antediluvian! What are the odds that he and all his gear would remain together and intact up there in the Alps? What with all that water, and currents, and fish, and rain, and the glaciers floating away, and everything?

Another thing. Where's all the pillow lava? Unless G shut off every volcano on the planet (talk about entropy violation!) there has to be pillow lava on TOP of a bunch of terrestrial volcanos. Mauna Loa should be covered, COVERED, I tell you, with pillow lava!!!! (And the ophiolite sequences don't count, since they don't occur on top of volcanoes active over the past 4,000 years and are not associated with or attached to recent, (past 10,000 years), volcanism. Nor do they appear to have any "roots".)



Were the fountains of the deep and the waters above the firmament fresh? or salt? 
 
Fresh above? Salt below? What percentage of each?
What effect would an additional 30,000 feet of water have had on the oceans salinity?
If fresh, could any salt water life forms survive the osmotic shock?

If salt, could any fresh water life forms survive the osmotic shock?
If salt, where did all the salt go when the water evaporated?
Shouldn't the surface of the entire planet be covered in a uniform layer of salt?

And speaking of that layer of salt, where are all the bodies?
Seriously. Where are all the salted bodies?

I know all about the nonsense of some supposed form of never actually observed "sorting" of life forms due to currents, and the climbing and/or swimming ability of everything that died miraculously (HA!) resulting in the fossils occurring in their evolutionary order, along with  an also never observed, (or described, before or since), type of sorting of sediments to account for today's observed stratigraphy, (How do you lay down sediment vertically?), but still, where are all the bodies? There should be a layer of human bodies, covered  in salt, and randomly mixed with dinosaurs, and cambrian, and ediacaran fauna, planet wide, dating to between 4,369 to 4,969 years ago. (Younger than Ötzi!)

If, miraculously, all the ocean biota survived, shouldn't all the worlds oceans have identical biota, chemical composition, salinity? (when adjusted for changes that could have occurred over a max of 4,969 years?)



Would it be possible for any for terrestrial plant life to survive 300+ days of submersion beneath a 30,000 foot water column? Either salt or fresh? (Especially an olive tree.)



Is it possible for more than 3,782,400,000,000,000 acre feet of water [see above] to evaporate in 150 days while allowing conditions to obtain commensurate with Noah and family's continued existence as carbon based life forms? 



As opposed to carbonized life forms?
Is gopher wood fire proof?

Was the ark made of asbestos?




Oh lord, I have to stop now. :D





*The Great Pyramid of Giza (called the Pyramid of Khufu and the Pyramid of Cheops) is the oldest and largest of the three pyramids in the Giza Necropolis bordering what is now El Giza, Egypt. It is the oldest of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World, and the only one to remain largely intact. Egyptologists believe that the pyramid was built as a tomb for fourth dynasty Egyptian Pharaoh Khufu (Cheops in Greek) over an approximately 20 year period concluding around 2560 BC.