PRE-ORGANIC EVOLUTION 



sciences is the trend towards greater randomness; the 

 fact, that on the average, things will get into disorder 

 rather than into order if left to themselves. This is es- 

 sentially the statement that is embodied in the Second 

 Law of Thermodynamics. 



Now it is true that that overall development of life 

 represents a trend in the opposite direction; namely, 

 towards greater orderliness. The fact that the physio- 

 chemical processes that go on in living organisms are 

 "Second Law Processes" and the realization that main- 

 tenance and expansion of life requires energy produced 

 at the expense of decreased orderliness elsewhere, can 

 of course be used as an argument in favor of the gen- 

 eral applicability of the Second Law. Yet at best, while 

 the development of life may not clearly contradict the 

 trend towards randomness in nature (provided the Sec- 

 ond Law is stated very broadly) , the trend towards 

 randomness can hardly be used as a basis on which the 

 development of life could be predicted. In order to 

 make discussion of the problem at all possible, a rather 

 rigid definition of terminology as it will be used in this 

 book is clearly essential. The author must therefore 

 urge the reader to go through what may appear to be 

 some difficult pages in the hope that the understanding 

 that can consequently be gained further on in the book 

 will prove to be sufficient reward. 



15 



