Enlem ve Boylam 170 - The Entropy Law and the Beginning of the Universe

The most prominent advocates of materialist-atheism in history took the eternity of the universe as the standpoint of their philosophies. The debate between theism and materialist-atheism can be reduced to a single Hamlet-esque expression: “The universe to be eternal or not be; that is the question!” Since the non-eternality of the universe implies a beginning for it, we can restate the expression as “The universe to have a beginning or not, that is the question!”

Attributing a beginning to the universe separates theism not only from materialist-atheism, but also from Hinduism, Taoism etc. and the philosophies of Ancient Greece. The idea of restricting the power of God or considering a universe independent from the God’s creation are unacceptable in theism. On the other hand, for deniers of God, the eternity of the universe appears to be the only plausible alternative. In addition to this, as a notable supporter of agnosticism, Kant stated that whether the universe has a beginning or not cannot be falsified or proven, and therefore it is impossible to establish a rational cosmology.

As we have seen, the idea that the universe is created and has a beginning is the most serious conflict of theism with all other philosophies and agnosticism. Prior to the 19th century, discussions on this issue were solely based on philosophical arguments. The first contribution to this issue from the natural sciences came with the discovery of the law of entropy. Furthermore, this law is one of the most fundamental laws in the universe and there is no doubt about its validity in the mind of any scientist, theist or atheist.

Also known as the second law of thermodynamics, the law of entropy was established chiefly by the work of Rudolf Clausius in the second half of the 19th century. This law states that energy continuously evolves from a more usable form to a less usable one. In other words, the disorder in the universe always increases and this is a non-reversible, unidirectional process. This process advances towards thermodynamic equilibrium, where motion stops.

All unidirectional processes are an indication of an ending. Aging of man and increase of entropy in the universe are both irreversible. We have the fact established that, according to the law of entropy, the disorder in the universe continuously increases and, as this increase cannot go on forever, the universe must eventually come to an end. This conclusion also implies that the universe must have a beginning. This can be elucidated as follows:

1. The entropy in the universe increases, continuously and irreversibly.
2. Accordingly, the universe will eventually reach thermodynamic equilibrium, or “heat death”. In short, the universe is not everlasting; it has a finite lifetime.
3. If the past were infinite, the thermodynamic equilibrium should have been reached and all motion should have stopped.
4. We witness that motion still continues.
5. As a result, the universe cannot be eternal; the universe must have a beginning.

Scientists tend to concentrate on the implication of entropy on the end of the universe, overlooking the implication about its beginning.

However, regarding philosophical, theological and cosmological discussions, the beginning of the universe is a much more critical matter. On this point, Paul Davies says:

It is clear that if the universe is irreversibly running down at a finite rate, then it cannot have existed forever. The reason is simple: if the universe were infinitely old, it would have died already. Something that runs down at a finite rate obviously cannot have existed for eternity. In other words, the universe must have come into existence a finite time ago. It is remarkable that this profound conclusion was not properly grasped by the scientists of the nineteenth century.

Source: 12 Arguments for the Existence of God, Caner Taslaman