Thermodynamic

As disorder decreases, the system's structure and organization disappears. Disorder is incompatible with life. For open systems, fortunately, it is not impossible that entropy can decrease; fortunately, it is not impossible that entropy can decrease; that is, order can be increased locally (in the organism) while decreasing within the total system (organism plus environment). This is precisely what is typical of living systems: they have the ability to create order out of chaos simply by being assured access tot a continuous flow of energy through the system (energy with low entropy as input and energy with high entropy — heat, for instance — as output). An amoeba “eats” order — that is, it ingests materials with more order (energetically speaking), which it utilizes to maintain and rebuild its own organization, and it expends heat (spreading disordered energy) to its environment. An entire ecosystem operates on the same principle: the ordered input consists of light from the sun, the disordered output is heat to the environment, ultimately to outer space.

The Garden in the Machine by Claus Emmeche