The most apocalyptic pronouncement in the history of science was made by the physicist Hermann von Helmholtz in 1854. The Universe, von Helmholtz declared, is dying. His pessimistic prediction was based on the second law of thermodynamics, according to which the entire cosmos is on a one-way slide towards a state of complete disorder, or maximum entropy, from which it will be unable to extricate itself. The basis of the dying Universe is easy to explain. We are surrounded by processes that have a definite directionality to them: people grow old, cars rust, cliffs are eroded, sand-castles get washed away. Take a movie of any familiar scene and run it backwards ― people will laugh, because the world in reverse looks so preposterous.
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机译：科学史上最末世的宣言是物理学家赫尔曼·冯·亥姆霍兹（Hermann von Helmholtz）在1854年做出的。冯·亥姆霍兹宣称，宇宙正在消亡。他的悲观预测是基于热力学第二定律的，根据该定律，整个宇宙都朝着完全失调或最大熵的状态单向滑动，从而无法从中解脱出来。垂死的宇宙的基础很容易解释。我们被具有明确方向性的过程所包围：人们变老，汽车生锈，悬崖被侵蚀，沙堡被冲走。拍摄任何熟悉的场景的电影并将其倒退–人们会笑，因为相反的世界看起来如此荒谬。
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