[Matt R.]

Borodog,
I had a long reply typed up, but then I realized that I likely made a mistake in my assumptions for calculating entropy of a system.

Without knowing much of anything regarding anisotropies and symmetry breaking, is it safe to say that the reason for localized order in the universe is due to the nature of elementary particle physics? i.e. it's all in the force interactions. Which is why I can't fully understand the explanation at the moment. I feel like some of the stuff you speak of in your post emerges naturally from the math of quantum field theory, and I won't be able to get a grasp on it until I understand the math.

Basically (from what I can understand), the anisotropies and symmetry breaking "slows down" the rate of entropy increase in the universe. Entropy was at a minimum at the big bang, as all the matter/energy was condensed into an infinitely tiny point. Rather than the big bang randomly throwing matter and energy everywhere (which would not allow for the "clumping"), the things you speak of in your post caused differential distrubutions of entropy levels in the universe. This allows for order we can observe on a day-to-day basis, and prevented the universe from moving towards a maximal state of entropy in a relatively shorter amount of time.

If there are any glaring errors in my summarized conclusion that I tried to draw from you post, feel free to correct me -- I'd like to understand this stuff better.

Also, slickpoppa, I own the fabric of the cosmos but haven't gotten around to reading it yet. Thanks for the recommendation.