<P> Thus , if entropy is associated with disorder and if the entropy of the universe is headed towards maximal entropy , then many are often puzzled as to the nature of the `` ordering '' process and operation of evolution in relation to Clausius ' most famous version of the second law , which states that the universe is headed towards maximal `` disorder '' . In the recent 2003 book SYNC -- the Emerging Science of Spontaneous Order by Steven Strogatz , for example , we find `` Scientists have often been baffled by the existence of spontaneous order in the universe . The laws of thermodynamics seem to dictate the opposite , that nature should inexorably degenerate toward a state of greater disorder , greater entropy . Yet all around us we see magnificent structures -- galaxies , cells , ecosystems , human beings -- that have all somehow managed to assemble themselves . '' </P>
which law of thermodynamics states that the entropy or randomness of the universe is increasing
the second law