David Wharton, at
A Little Urbanity points
out problems in the assumptions
Michio Kaku makes in the his Jan 20
Wall Street Journal editorial. Dr Kaku is contemplating the
time when entropy has reached its maximum, and all the universe
'will consist of dead neutron stars, black holes, and nuclear
debris. Intelligent life will be huddled next to the dying embers
of fading black holds [sic], like the homeless next to small
bonfires.'
'The End of the World As We Know It' asks of what concern to
materialists is the possibility, or certainty, that the universe
will 'run down' and no energy be available for useful work. That's
a good question, and I don't know how Dr Kaku would answer.
That question isn't why I'm typing this. I want to look at the
future Dr Kaku describes.
I think the only work of Kaku's I've picked up happens to be one
I'm reading now,
Einstein's Cosmos, because this is the
centenary of his four papers and doctoral dissertation. Dr Kaku
writes well, holding my attention with illustrative anecdotes from
his life and events of the times. The book is obviously aimed at a
popular audience, since there's no discussion of the mathematics of
the 1905 papers. Probably there's only one equation in it's 200+
pages, and while he includes the
'There once was a young lady
named Bright ... limerick, he doesn't include the one beginning
'There once was a fencer named Fisk ...'. You will find
Alexander Pope's epitaph for Sir Isaac Newton. It's a shame there's
no index.
That's enough about Dr Kaku. What will happen when entropy has
reached its maximum? Is there some way to massively decrease the
net amount of entropy in the universe?
Isaac Asimov wrote a short story about that very conundrum, and
it's on the 'net here:
The Last Question. It was the only story of his ever made the
subject of a sermon, he said. Go and read it.