p We have stated earlier that there can be no inert, immobile state of matter, that matter and motion are inseparable. Yet even today some people think of matter as such without motion, divorcing matter from motion.

p Such, for example, are the proponents of the so-called theory of the heat death of the Universe who, distorting the findings of science, predict the coming “end” of the world, the “death” of everything existing. They proceed from the fact, long ago established by science, that all forms of energy are easily converted into thermal energy, while the reverse process is more complex and demands an additional expenditure of energy. It is also true that any heated body, placed in an environment with a lower temperature, cools, transferring its heat to it.

p Applying these principles to the entire Universe, these theorists arrive at the conclusion that, in time, fiery celestial bodies will transfer all their heat to cold cosmic space. That being the case, the Universe, in their opinion, will ultimately reach a state of “heat balance" or “heat death”, turning into a monstrous conglomeration of frozen bodies, while all forms of motion of matter will become thermal energy incapable of further conversion, and matter will lose the ability to move. Although this theory was criticised and refuted by Engels,  [50•*  idealists and theologians continue to defend it and use it as “proof” that the “end” of the world is inevitable.

p Scientifically, the theory of the heat death of the Universe is completely unfounded and ignores the law of conservation and transformation of energy which asserts the indestructibility of motion not only quantitatively but also qualitatively. According to this law, motion cannot exist in only one form, nor can matter exist in a state of immobility, i.e., a state in which motion would no longer pass from one form into another. The transformation of forms of motion is as natural and law-governed as the quantitative conservation of motion during these transformations.

p The latest discoveries of astronomy show that the cycle 51 of matter in the Universe does not cease for a single moment. In some regions of cosmic space matter and energy are dispersed, in others they are re-concentrated, giving rise to new celestial bodies. Soviet scientists have established that new stars are still being formed, and not merely single stars but entire groups (associations) of stars. This proves that there can be no immobile state of matter.

p But then, perhaps, motion exists by itself, without any material carrier?

p This is precisely what the advocates of energetism, a trend in philosophy and natural science which arose at the turn of the century, think. They reduce matter to motion and energy, this is nothing more than a refusal to recognise matter and is idealism pure and simple.

p Present-day champions of energetism are particularly vociferous in their idealist views. Falsifying the latest achievements of science, they speak of the “annihilation” of matter, its conversion into “pure” energy. To this end, for example, they idealistically interpret the conversion of a pair of elementary particles of substance (electron and positron) into photons, particles of the electromagnetic field (light). By regarding light as “pure” energy, energy without matter, and substance as the only form of matter, adherents of energetism have arrived at the absolutely erroneous conclusion that in this instance matter disappears and is converted into energy. The photon, however, is a particle of the field, a special form of matter. The conversion of the electron and positron into photons is not transformation of matter into energy, but conversion of one kind of matter—substance, into another—the field.

p The complete bankruptcy of energetism is disclosed by the advances of modern physics and above all by the law of the interconnection of mass and energy discovered early in this century. According to this law, the mass of a body is always connected with a corresponding quantity of energy. It is difficult to establish this dependence at relatively small speeds, but when a body travels at a velocity close to that of light (and elementary particles possess such velocities during nuclear transformations), the increase of its mass becomes noticeable. That the mass changes depending on velocity has been confirmed experimentally. Mass, however, is a measure of matter, while energy is a measure of motion. 52 Consequently, the given law reveals the direct connection between die unity of matter and motion.

It follows from the above that there is neither matter without motion nor “pure” motion divorced from matter, nor could there be any. Matter and motion are inseparable.