Stimulated in part by the recent publication of Into the Cool by Sagan and Schneider (cf. also www.intothecool.com), the first session of this seminar presents and the second critiques the importance of the second law of thermodynamics in understanding complex systems from hurricanes and chemical clocks to ecosystems and economies. Thermodynamics originated with the study of isolated systems. Yet most systems in the cosmos, including all complex ones, are open to matter and energy and organized by energy flow. Life itself arguably is a manifestation of the second law: its systems more
effectively disperse energy, produce entropy, and reduce gradients than mere random aggregates of matter. Although evolution is a fact, selection requires replicating variants that do not always exist prior to complex structures. This conundrum, fodder for creationism, is illuminated by non-equilibrium thermodynamics, which chronicles teleological behavior, growth, and physiological-like complexity in nonliving structured processes.