The second law of thermodynamics predicts that the universe will end in heat death, yet the emer-gence of galaxies, life, and civilization exhibits local ordering. Traditional entropy theory extrapolatesthe entropy increase law of isolated subsystems to the entire universe, committing a logical error of scalemisplacement. Based on five-dimensional mathematics (boundary, structure, reserve, direction, inten-sity), this paper redefines the essence of entropy increase: entropy increase is not an increase in disorder,but the approach of the synergy coefficient κ to 1 — i.e., the loss of boundary overlap, structural match-ing, directional alignment, and intensity dissipation. This definition unifies thermodynamic entropy andinformation entropy, reconstructing entropy increase as κ-dynamics. On the cosmic scale, the Big Bangis a jump from a low-coordination chaotic state to κ ≫ 1; the formation of galaxies, stars, and planetsmaintains κ > 1; life and civilization are local re-jumps of κ. Cosmic expansion is not monotonic entropyincrease, but a rebalancing of local expansion (entropy increase) and local contraction (entropy decrease),jointly promoting global ordering. This paper reviews major challenges to the second law (Maxwell’sdemon, statistical fluctuations, quantum heat flow reversal, etc.), showing that these challenges havedeepened our understanding of its boundary of applicability. Five-dimensional mathematics, startingfrom the scale dependence of κ, provides a new language for the dialectical unity of entropy increase anddecrease. Wherever there are natural laws, there is local entropy decrease; human subjective initiativeand conscious thinking also produce local entropy decrease; artificial intelligence, by creating correlationsacross previously unrelated domains, embodies local entropy decrease in human development. Therefore,local entropy decrease is the direction of development for both the universe and humanity. The universeis not heading toward heat death, but continuously ordering itself through eternal fluctuations of κ.
Guiru Zhao (Sun,) studied this question.