Philosophical aspects of the problem of Maxwell's demon

Abstract

In this thesis, we will analyze Maxwell’s thought experiment from few different points of view. First, we will analyze the relation of Maxwell’s demon with the causality on the one side and indeterminism on the other. Then, we will examine it from the point of view of philosophy of time, thermodynamics, information theory, biology and quantum mechanics. The central part of the thesis will be the analysis between entropy and information in which we will conclude that information and entropy cannot be the same, and that any exorcism that counts on this relationship must be invalid. We will make several conclusions on different aspects of the problem of Maxwell’s demon. We explore these different aspects of the problem of Maxwell’s demon through chapters that can be read independently, but they also form a bigger picture by showing us the heuristic value that Maxwell’s thought experiment bears for both philosophy and physics, but also biology, quantum computation, history of science, cosmology, etc. Instead of exorcising the demon, we can continue Maxwell’s project of analyzing validity of second law through this thought experiment, by using it much wider, in many other fields to draw some new conclusions and pay attention to some unperceived aspects of old phenomena.

U ovoj disertaciji analiziraću Maksvelov misaoni eksperiment sa nekoliko različitih tački gledišta. Najpre ću analizirati odnos Maksvelovog demona i pojma kauzalnosti na jednoj strani, kao i pojma indeterminizma, na drugoj. Nakon toga ću analizirati problem Maksvelovog demona sa tačke gledišta filozofije vremena, termodinamike, informatike, biologije i kvantne mehanike. Centralni deo teze biće analiza odnosa entropije i informacije u okviru koje ću zaključiti da informacija i entropija nisu i ne mogu biti isto, kao i da egzorcizam koji se oslanja na izjednačavanje ova dva pojma ne može biti validan. Doneću još neke zaključke koji se tiču raznih aspekata problema Maksvelovog demona. Istražiću ove različite aspekte kroz odeljke koji se mogu čitati nezavisno, ali koji takođe zajedno čine širu sliku, ukazujući nam heurističku vrednost koju ovaj Maksvelov misaoni eksperiment donosi kako na polju filozofije fizike, tako i na polju biologije, kvantne fizike, istorije nauke, kosmologije i tako dalje. Umesto da prognamo demona, mi možemo nastaviti Maksvelov projekat analiziranja validnosti drugog zakona termodinamike, koristeći ga mnogo šire, kao i u mnogim drugim poljima kako bismo došli do novih zaključaka i obratili pažnju na neke nove, ranije neopažene, aspekte starog fenomena.