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Re:What is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger (1944) [pdf] by atschantz on Monday January 14, 2019 @06:08PM (#18907439)
It's remarkable how much this still rings true today.

The idea that we should try and understand life as a battle against the second law of thermodynamics has had a significant influence on many of today's great thinkers - such as Friston [1] and Dennett [2], as well as countless others.

[1] https://royalsocietypublishing.org/doi/full/10.1098/rsif.201...

[2] https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iJ1YxR8qNpY

Re:What is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger (1944) [pdf] by jhallenworld on Monday January 14, 2019 @07:14PM (#18907840)
I've heard this called the "every refrigerator is a miracle" theory.
Re:What is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger (1944) [pdf] by throwawaylolx on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @09:13AM (#18911195)
I don't see anything on this phrase on Google Search
Re:What is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger (1944) [pdf] by GuiA on Monday January 14, 2019 @10:08PM (#18908578)
Would phenomena like rocks crystallizing or stars forming also be a battle against the second law of thermodynamics?
Re:What is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger (1944) [pdf] by mpweiher on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @04:08AM (#18909797)
Not sure.

Carl Friedrich von Weizsäcker, in his Aufbau der Physik argues/shows that the 2nd law is often misunderstood as leading to "goo". His take is that this is not so, rather it leads to skeletons.

So rocks crystallising and stars forming would actually be going with the flow of the 2nd law, rather than battling against it.

Re:What is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger (1944) [pdf] by hopler on Tuesday January 15, 2019 @11:07PM (#18918161)
Stars die, so I'm not sure why your example includes stars forming -- that's not a steady state.

Still, rocks and crystals are not quite an end state either, in a non expanding universe -- eventually they collide and crumble to dust.

Re:What is Life? by Erwin Schrödinger (1944) [pdf] by antidesitter on Monday January 14, 2019 @06:41PM (#18907647)
Thermodynamics and heat dissipation also play a central role in Jeremy England’s work on abiogenesis.