Defender is convinced the following is true. Can we demonstrate why it is not true, or figure out why he is so convinced it is true?
(1) Maxwell’s Game is a thought experiment demonstrates a way to extract “free energy” from a system. We know this is not possible, the question is why.
(2) The currently accepted solution(s) that treat this problem as 100% physical are all incorrect. (this is taken somewhat on faith, open to challenge - see Argument 1 below)
(3) The correct solution requires modeling the demon as a mind, and understanding the constraints on mind’s ability to predict reality
Argument 1: Why the physical explanation for the impossibility of winning the game is not satisfactory
From https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maxwell%27s_demon:
The essence of the physical argument is to show, by calculation, that any demon must “generate” more entropy segregating the molecules than it could ever eliminate by the method described. That is, it would take more thermodynamic work to gauge the speed of the molecules and selectively allow them to pass through the opening between A and B than the amount of energy gained by the difference of temperature caused by doing so
The bolded claim is unsubstantiated - is it really fundamentally necessary that it MUST happen to take at least as much energy to compute that?
From Ogi’s Explanation of Maxwell:
Physicists hunted for the hidden mechanism that explained why the activity of separating molecules of different speeds somehow automatically burned up more energy than you’d get from your new box of fuel—even though there was no apparent reason why there should be a fixed correlation between the act of separating molecules and the fuel you obtained from the separation
This paper, April 2025, shows evidence of “information engines” in biology? Which means, what, Maxwell’s demon CAN generate some energy, just not infinite energy??
See “Hunting for Maxwell’s Demon in the Wild” https://arxiv.org/pdf/2504.11329
In parallel, technological progress in the control of mesoscale systems has allowed for Maxwell’s demon to be realized experimentally
These “information engines” extract energy from the surrounding environment and can attain performance comparable to evolved molecular motors within biological organisms
Everything Below Here Is Notes / Appendix
“Capturing the Demon in Szilard’s Engine”, April 2025
https://arxiv.org/html/2504.07331v1
my current understanding is, this is the solution to maxwell’s game: if the universe were classical, you could in fact beat the game, because you could in fact break 2nd law. But you can’t break 2nd law, game is impossible
https://x.com/DefenderOfBasic/status/1897123059284500960
conversation with octo
When we say that the demon “knows” the speed of the particle, we don’t even need to invoke measurement effects All we’re saying is really “the demon acts differently based on the particle’s state some time before it reaches the junction between chambers”
https://x.com/the_octobro/status/1897120251734794359
See Szilard engine
