Abstract

The Second Law of Thermodynamics (SLT) states that the entropy or disorder of an isolated system can only increase. And yet, we see numerous systems all around us that that clearly have decreasing entropy and increasing order: the SLT-Order Paradox. Systems philosophers have proposed numerous solutions to the paradox without success. From Schr?dinger?s ?negentropy? to Prigogine?s ?fluctuations,? ?distance from equilibrium,? ?nonlinearity,? or ?self-organizing,? there always has been residual bias in favor of the system over the environment. At one extreme, the SLT was said to predict the eventual ?heat death? of the finite, expanding universe. As with all paradoxes, however, the solution simply involves a change in beginning assumptions. The paradox dissolves if one considers the universe to be infinite. Then, the SLT is a law of divergence; its complement is a law of convergence. Matter leaving one portion of the infinite, 3-dimensional universe invariably converges upon matter in another portion of that universe. Destruction in one place leads to construction in another place. The resulting complementarity shows the SLT to be a restatement of Newton?s First Law of Motion in which the word ?unless? is replaced by the word ?until,? in tune with Infinite Universe Theory. The imagined ?ideal isolation? required by the SLT has an equally imaginary ?ideal nonisolation? required by its complement. All real systems come into being at the behest of relative nonisolation and dissipate at the behest of relative isolation. Complementarity is essential for univironmental determinism, the universal mechanism of evolution stating that what happens to a portion of the universe is determined by the infinite matter in motion within and without.