ON THE 2ND-LAW OF THERMODYNAMICS

The second law of thermodynamics has two distinct aspects to its found ations. The first concerns the question of why entropy goes up in the future, and the second, of why it goes down in the past. Statistical p hysicists tend to be more concerned with the first question and with c areful considerations of definition and mathematical detail. The secon d question is of quite a different nature; it leads into areas of cosm ology and quantum gravity, where the mathematical and physical issues are ill understood.