"The potential implications of second law research are obvious. What is at stake is virtually all the energy in the world. The total thermal energy content of the atmosphere, ocean, and upper crust is estimated to be 10,000 times greater than that of
known carbon fuel and fission fuel reserves. In quantity, the energy stores of thermal energy are almost boundless and, because second-law–violating devices allow conversion of waste heat back into work over and over again without limit, the energy
stores can be considered effectively infinite. If environmental heat can be economically converted into useful work on a wide scale—electrical, mechanical, chemical—the effects on the energy sector, the global economy, societal and ecological welfare,
warfare, and virtually all aspects of civilization and its relationship to Nature are difficult to predict, but they are likely to be profound—and, we hope, mostly salutary. Of course, every technology is two-edged, depending on its application. In
light of second law developments since the mid1990s, now might seem a good time to start preparing for a world in which thermal energy will be the coin of the realm."
https://philpapers.org/rec/HATSEA-4
No, say thermodynamicists. Don't start preparing for anything if you wish to avoid deepest humiliation:
Arthur Eddington: "The law that entropy always increases—the Second Law of Thermodynamics—holds, I think, the supreme position among the laws of Nature. If someone points out to you that your pet theory of the universe is in disagreement with Maxwell
s equations—then so much the worse for Maxwell’s equations. If it is found to be contradicted by observation—well these experimentalists do bungle things sometimes. But if your theory is found to be against the second law of thermodynamics I can
give you no hope; there is nothing for it but to collapse in deepest humiliation."
https://todayinsci.com/E/Eddington_Arthur/EddingtonArthur-Entropy-Quotations.htm
Pentcho Valev
https://twitter.com/pentcho_valev
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