THE LAW OF ENTROPY AND THE ACHIEVEMENT OF HUMAN BEING IMMORTALITY

Fernando Alcoforado*

This article aims to analyze the possibilities of achieving human immortality in the face of the obstacle represented by the law of entropy. In his book “Até o fim do tempo: Mente, matéria e nossa busca por sentido num Universo em evolu??o” (Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe) [1], Brian Greene presents the deepest questions of life and the cosmos, such as their origin and destiny, or the reasons for consciousness exists. It states that the entropy of the Universe will increase over time. However, its natural tendency, as well as everything in it, is to immerse itself in chaos and disorder, despite the existence of structures so organized that they can give meaning to life. Brian Greene shows that human existence does not supplant this inexorable law of the cosmos, entropy. To create orderly structures, disorder must increase in their surroundings, as in an entropic two-way dance. With this simple but profound observation, Greene addresses a myriad of phenomena, such as the formation of stars, black holes, solar system and human life itself.

Even though the human being is just a conglomerate of organized elementary particles, devoid of free will, guided by the dictates of physics, as said by Brian Greene, the history of humanity is not limited exclusively to segments of matter devoid of life because the evolution led us along paths that modified our bodies, but also, as speculated by Greene, gave rise to our creativity, our consciousness. In a few billion years, what was once space dust in the universe after the Big Bang, guided by the principles of entropy and evolution, became conscious human beings. The fact is that before intelligent life is erased from the history of the Universe due to entropy, humanity will have to escape, too, of threats to its extinction caused by human beings themselves, by planet Earth and by those coming from space.

The threats to the extinction of humanity caused by human beings themselves concern global climate change, pandemics and the outbreak of the 3rd World War, the threats to the extinction of humanity caused by the forces of nature existing on planet Earth concern the cooling of the core of the planet Earth, the catastrophic eruptions of volcanoes and the reversal of the Earth's magnetic poles and the threats to the survival of humanity coming from outer space today and in the short, medium and long term future, concern: 1) collision on planet Earth from asteroids, comets or pieces of comets; 2) collision on planet Earth of planets of the solar system; 3) collision on planet Earth of orphan planets roaming outer space; 4) emission of cosmic rays, especially gamma rays emitted by supernova stars; 5) catastrophic consequences on the Earth's environment resulting from the continued distancing of the Moon from the Earth; 6) death of the Sun; 7) collision of the Andromeda and Milky Way galaxies where the Earth is located; and, 8) end of the Universe.

Regarding entropy, it is important to say that it concerns the Second Law of Thermodynamics [2]. The degree of randomness or disorder of a system is called entropy, which is a consequence of the fact that every transfer of energy results in the conversion of a part of the energy into an unusable form (such as heat), and how heat that does not generate work ends up increasing the randomness of the Universe (or, in the most extreme case, will keep the overall entropy unchanged). In other words, any process, such as a chemical reaction or a set of interconnected reactions, will be directed towards increasing the overall entropy of the Universe. Entropy in biological systems, for example, is explained when a living being, when performing work, part of the heat produced keeps its body warm, but a large part dissipates in the environment around it, causing a large fraction of the energy of its fuel sources are transformed into heat. However, when doing this, the living being operates with a very low efficiency. After all, every living being is a well-organized set of matter. Every cell in your body has its own internal organization. Cells are organized into tissues, and tissues into organs, and your entire body maintains a careful system of transport and exchange that keeps you alive. Therefore, it is very clear how every living being, or even simple bacteria, can contribute to an increase in the entropy of the Universe.

More generally, processes that decrease entropy locally, such as those that build and maintain the highly organized bodies of living beings, can indeed occur. However, these local decreases in entropy can only occur with the expenditure of energy, in which part of this energy is converted into heat or other unusable forms. The net effect of the original process (local decrease in entropy) and the transfer of energy (increase in entropy in the external environment) is a general increase in the entropy of the Universe. Living beings are, therefore, “islands of low entropy” in a relatively disordered Universe, whose high degree of organization is maintained by a constant input of energy, counterbalanced by an increase in entropy in the external environment. In short, the high degree of organization of living beings is maintained by a constant input of energy and is compensated by an increase in the entropy of the environment [2].

It is important to highlight that Thermodynamics has three laws [2]. The First Law of Thermodynamics tells us about the conservation of energy between processes. The First Law of Thermodynamics [2] states that energy cannot be created or destroyed. It can only be modified or transferred from one object to another. The Second law of thermodynamics [2] informs that, in a transfer or transformation of energy in the real world, a certain amount of energy is converted into a useless form (which cannot be used to perform work). In most cases, this unusable form of energy takes the form of heat. Although heat can, in fact, perform work under certain circumstances, it will never be possible to transform it into other forms of energy (which generate work) with 100% efficiency. Therefore, every time an energy transfer takes place, a portion of this useful energy will dissipate into a useless form. If heat is not doing work, the randomness (disorder) of the Universe increases. With the Third Law of Thermodynamics [3], whenever a system is close to absolute zero (-273.15 degrees Celsius), entropy will have a minimum value. The law therefore offered a starting point for determining the value of entropy. The Third law of Thermodynamics supports the idea that the entropy of a system with a temperature equal to absolute zero has a constant that varies little. The theory explains that the closer a perfect crystal is to absolute zero, the more its entropy approaches zero.

Everyone agrees, scientists, esotericists and poets, that nothing will exist forever. The laws of Physics guarantee this and, in particular, the second law of thermodynamics. It is the process of entropy, which imposes disorder on life, where galaxies sink into black holes, stars become carbon dust, car and airplane engines wear out, aging leads us to death. Everything is born, increases in mass and dies. What did we know until June 2019, when a team of scientists from the Technical University of Munich and the Max Planck Institute for Physics and Complex Systems announced that an exception to this universal rule had been found. Researchers discovered that what seemed inconceivable in our everyday experience could be happening in the mysterious quantum world. Studies have indicated that there are strange creatures called “quasi-particles” there. Such tiny, invisible beings have the incredible ability to disintegrate and be reborn from their own ashes. The phenomenon of “quasi-particles” occurs in a series of endless cycles, making them, in fact, immortal. This extraordinary discovery was published shortly afterwards in the renowned British magazine Nature Physics, where the phenomenon was described as a collective excitation that occurs inside solid bodies. The concept of “quasi-particles” comes from Russian physicist and Nobel Prize winner Lev Davidovich Landau. He coined it to describe collective states of many particles, or rather, their interactions due to electrical or magnetic forces, where these interactions lead several particles to act as if they were one. This fact continues to stimulate discussions about an ancient human desire: the immortality of the human body [4].

There has long been a human obsession with overcoming death. In the past, man sought to overcome death through religions. In the contemporary era, people began to believe that it would be possible to overcome death through the use of science and technology. The belief that, if it is not possible to overcome death, but that it would be possible to prolong life is based on the fact that man's life expectancy increased from 30 years in 1500, 37 years in 1800, 45 years in 1900, 46.5 years in 1950 and 80 years in 2012. The achievement of a longer existence in the 20th century resulted from the improvement of sanitary conditions in cities and the creation of public health services. Furthermore, science discovered vaccines and antibiotics that made it possible to prevent diseases and control epidemics. The increase in educational and income levels also contributed to improving the quality of life and further extending longevity in the third or – perhaps we could say – fourth age [5].

The year 2045 will mark the beginning of an era in which medicine will be able to offer humanity the possibility of living for a time never seen in history. Organs that are not working can be exchanged for better ones, created especially for us. Parts of the heart, lungs and even the brain can be replaced. Tiny computer circuits will be implanted in the body to control chemical reactions that occur inside cells. We will be just a few steps away from immortality. This is the prediction of a group of scientists known for being at the forefront of research covering topics such as computer science, biology and biotechnology. Among them are George Church, professor at Harvard University in the United States, gerontologist and biomedical specialist in anti-aging Aubrey de Gray and engineer Raymond Kurzweil, from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). They are the leaders of a kind of new philosophy, called Singularity [5].

According to inventor and futurist Raymond Kurzweil, the “father” of the much talked about concept of Singularity, we are heading towards the difficulty of distinguishing between what is organic and what is machine in the future. Artificial intelligence will evolve so much that by 2025 it will be difficult to recognize a human being from a robot. It is worth noting that singularity marks a transition point between two “domains”, or two “worlds”, at a point or instant. In astronomy, singularity means a place in space (black hole) where a body does not age because time stops. In medicine, the heralds of immortality claim that it is nothing more than a real consequence of an ongoing revolution that is already causing the increase in human life expectancy to skyrocket at unprecedented speed. Considering the speed of innovations, a person born in 2050 will have a 95% chance of living a thousand years, according to Aubrey de Grey. At this moment, the aforementioned group of scientists is involved in the growth of the Singularity University, already located in Silicon Valley, in the United States. Making an analogy with single-celled bacteria that live for millions of years without aging, members of the Singularity University state that our germ cells, such as eggs and sperm, can also live indefinitely, which they claim believes in the greatest prolongation of human life [5].

The certainty of this group of researchers in the success of their research is supported by the advances already achieved and those that will certainly come. In the opinion of these researchers, based on the resources we currently have, a child born today could live until at least 150 years old. One of the fields in which advances have been most notable is that of stem cells. In the area of cardiology, experiments with 16 people with heart failure, all of whom had part of their heart tissue regenerated with stem cells taken from the organ itself. The replacement of diseased organs with healthy ones is another of the reasons given by scientists to justify the belief in a spectacularly long life. It has already been possible to create and implant the trachea, bladder, urethra and blood vessels in humans. There are experiments in creating more organs, including the heart and liver [5].

One of the most important factors associated with a man's lifespan is his genetics. Your DNA indicates what your average lifespan will be and can also bring about changes that predispose you to diseases. Therefore, much of the effort is focused on inventing resources that interfere with each person's genetic material. Avoiding the possible damage that food can cause to DNA is also a support point for science that seeks immortality. According to the main representative of the Singularity, engineer Raymond Kurzweil, a calorie-restricted diet, with only the nutrients necessary for life, can lead us to live much longer. These are just examples of the instruments currently available to help the human race surpass longevity limits [5].

Will all this effort aimed at achieving immortality be able to overcome the forces imposed by the law of entropy? All of this effort will negate Brian Greene's conclusions presented in his book “Até o fim do tempo: Mente, matéria e nossa busca por sentido num Universo em evolu??o” (Until the End of Time: Mind, Matter, and Our Search for Meaning in an Evolving Universe) who states that the entropy of the Universe will increase over time, that everything in it exists will be immersed in chaos and disorder and that human existence does not supplant this inexorable law of the cosmos, entropy? To what extent can the immortality of “quasi-particles” contribute to making human beings immortal? To what extent will science and technology contribute to the achievement of immortality for human beings? The future will tell whether we will have the capacity to overcome entropy, in addition to ensuring the survival of humanity by overcoming the threats to its extinction caused by human beings themselves, by planet Earth and by those coming from space.

REFERENCES

1.???? GREENE, Brian. Até o fim do tempo: Mente, matéria e nossa busca por sentido num Universo em evolu??o. S?o Paulo: Companhia das Letras, 2020.

2.KHAN ACADEMY. Leis da termodinamica. Available on the website <https://pt.khanacademy.org/science/biology/energy-and-enzymes/the-laws-of-thermodynamics/a/the-laws-of-thermodynamics>.

3.ASTH, Rafael C. Termodinamica. Available on the website <https://www.todamateria.com.br/termodinamica/>.

4.MEDEIROS, Alex. A impensável imortalidade do ser. Available on the website <https://tribunadonorte.com.br/colunas/alex-medeiros/a-impensavel-imortalidade-do-ser-2/>.

5.ALCOFORADO, Fernando. Man in search of immortality. Available on the website <https://www.academia.edu/10435641/MAN_IN_SEARCH_OF_IMMORTALITY>.

* Fernando Alcoforado, awarded the medal of Engineering Merit of the CONFEA / CREA System, member of the Bahia Academy of Education, of the SBPC- Brazilian Society for the Progress of Science and of IPB- Polytechnic Institute of Bahia, engineer from the UFBA Polytechnic School and doctor in Territorial Planning and Regional Development from the University of Barcelona, college professor (Engineering, Economy and Administration) and consultant in the areas of strategic planning, business planning, regional planning, urban planning and energy systems, was Advisor to the Vice President of Engineering and Technology at LIGHT S.A. Electric power distribution company from Rio de Janeiro, Strategic Planning Coordinator of CEPED- Bahia Research and Development Center, Undersecretary of Energy of the State of Bahia, Secretary of Planning of Salvador, is the author of the books Globaliza??o (Editora Nobel, S?o Paulo, 1997), De Collor a FHC- O Brasil e a Nova (Des)ordem Mundial (Editora Nobel, S?o Paulo, 1998), Um Projeto para o Brasil (Editora Nobel, S?o Paulo, 2000), Os condicionantes do desenvolvimento do Estado da Bahia (Tese de doutorado. Universidade de Barcelona,https://www.tesisenred.net/handle/10803/1944, 2003), Globaliza??o e Desenvolvimento (Editora Nobel, S?o Paulo, 2006), Bahia- Desenvolvimento do Século XVI ao Século XX e Objetivos Estratégicos na Era Contemporanea (EGBA, Salvador, 2008), The Necessary Conditions of the Economic and Social Development- The Case of the State of Bahia (VDM Verlag Dr. Müller Aktiengesellschaft & Co. KG, Saarbrücken, Germany, 2010), Aquecimento Global e Catástrofe Planetária (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, S?o Paulo, 2010), Amaz?nia Sustentável- Para o progresso do Brasil e combate ao aquecimento global (Viena- Editora e Gráfica, Santa Cruz do Rio Pardo, S?o Paulo, 2011), Os Fatores Condicionantes do Desenvolvimento Econ?mico e Social (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2012), Energia no Mundo e no Brasil- Energia e Mudan?a Climática Catastrófica no Século XXI (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2015), As Grandes Revolu??es Científicas, Econ?micas e Sociais que Mudaram o Mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2016), A Inven??o de um novo Brasil (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2017),? Esquerda x Direita e a sua convergência (Associa??o Baiana de Imprensa, Salvador, 2018), Como inventar o futuro para mudar o mundo (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2019), A humanidade amea?ada e as estratégias para sua sobrevivência (Editora Dialética, S?o Paulo, 2021), A escalada da ciência e da tecnologia e sua contribui??o ao progresso e à sobrevivência da humanidade (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2022), a chapter in the book Flood Handbook (CRC Press,? Boca Raton, Florida United States, 2022), How to protect human beings from threats to their existence and avoid the extinction of humanity (Generis Publishing, Europe, Republic of Moldova, Chi?in?u, 2023) and A revolu??o da educa??o necessária ao Brasil na era contemporanea (Editora CRV, Curitiba, 2023).?