How do Idealist metaphysics account for entropy?

[DocWatts]

( Mods: could you please move this to the Self-Actualizion section )

Ken Wilber mentioned that not being able to account for the eventual entropic Heat Death of the Universe is in part responsible for the paradigm shift away from the 19th century German Idealists (well that and not having a methodology such as meditation to verify thier claims).

The second law of thermodynamics may well be the most widely validated principle in all of science. It states that the level of disorder in a closed thermodynamic system will always increase over time, until it inevitably reaches an equilibrium state where no energy or information exchanges can take place. It's the reason why hot air moves in to a cold room, and why perpetual motion machines don't work.

In order for a metaphysics to be plausible, at the very least it should be consistent with what we observe about how Reality behaves, regardless of what the being of that Reality is.  Similiar to how an ontological model that doesn't allow for evolution or for subjective experience should be thought of as implausible, the same should be true for not accounting for the implications of entropy.

So why is this even an issue?  The issue is that this posits a finite (though still vast) lifespan where information and energy exchanges can take place in nature, which runs contrary to most forms of Idealism. I've yet to find an adequate accounting of this aspect of nature in Idealism, which tends to either completely ignore it or handwave it away.

Regardless of whether things like atoms and time actually exist, Reality behaves as if they exist, even if the basis for those things are mental rather than physical. Likewise, Reality behaves as if the laws of thermodynamics exist, regardless of if thermodynamics is just the extrinsic appearance of trans-personal mental processes.

This isn't a sneaky argument in favor of physicalism so much as a challenge for Idealism to come up with an adequate and satisfying answer to.

Edited February 8, 2022 by DocWatts

[Leo Gura]

What is the challenge?

Mind imagines a physical system which behaves according to certain patterns.

Entropy is something Mind is imagining, like gravity and all the other physical stuff.

P.S. A state of total heat death would just be formless Oneness, which would be identical to the starting position before the Big Bang.

[DocWatts]

2 hours ago, Leo Gura said:

P.S. A state of total heat death would just be formless Oneness, which would be identical to the starting position before the Big Bang.

That's actually quite helpful, as I haven't really seen the above point framed in a direct way (though that could because I haven't been looking in the correct places).

Edited February 8, 2022 by DocWatts