What is the "standard paradigm," if not notion that entropy (and a principle
to which it is closely related, the Second Law of Thermodynamics) places
absolute limits on thermodynamic processes (absolute in the sense that they
cannot be bypassed by any human intervention whatever)? I call this
"standard" because entropy has been a bedrock concept in thermodynamics and
because the Second Law has been unchallenged, uncontested, and
uncontroversial for well over a century.
William Lockeretz
Tufts University
Medford, Mass.