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Maxwell's demon is a fictitious, miniscule being imagined by
Maxwell as able to reverse the second law of thermodynamics by
manipulating individual molecules. In a tradition of work initiated
by Szilard in the 1920s, it has become standard to predict the
failure of the demon on information theoretic grounds through a
connection supposed to obtain between information processing and
entropy dissipation. In a study with John Earman, we have suggested
that this account of the demon's failure is either based on question
begging or groundless supposition. |
With John Earman, "Exorcist XIV: The Wrath of
Maxwell's Demon." Studies in the History and Philosophy of Modern
Physics, Part I "From Maxwell to Szilard" 29(1998), pp.435-471; Part
II: "From Szilard to Landauer and Beyond," 30(1999), pp.1-40. Download.
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The present orthodoxy holds that Maxwell's demon must fail to
reverse the second law of thermodynamics because of a hidden entropy
cost in the erasure of information. The analysis is based on
Landauer's principle, which asserts that the erasure of n bits of
information is accompanied by the passage of least k ln n of entropy
to the surroundings. I argue that Landauer's principle is based on
the formation of illicit canonical ensembles in statistical physics
that give the illusion of the necessity of this entropy cost. I also
urge that, even if the principle were correct, the literarure seeks
to establish that it must defeat all Maxwell demons by the inadquate
means of merely displaying a few suggestive examples.
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"Eaters of the Lotus: Landauer's Principle and the
Return of Maxwell's Demon." 36 (2005), pp. 375-411. Download |