Demons

Both Maxwell and Laplace were brilliant men who recruited the help of theoretical intelligent agents to play the pivotal role in their thought experiments concerning entropy and determinism, respectively.  A passing remark on thought experiments – they seem to be, at least somewhat, a reliable litmus test for genius intellect.  Many of the forerunners of scientific advancements conducted ‘thought experiments’ before attempting actual experiments.  It seems little of either is conducted today, and the ones that receive federal grants to become actual experiments often should have remained in the realm of theory.  Nonetheless, the two aforementioned scientists posited that their theoretical ‘demons,’ which behave much more like supercomputers than actual maleficent spirits, could supersede the laws of physics and achieve otherwise impossible – or at least impractical – results that, if actualized, could prove to be extremely useful for industry and the advancement of science itself.  I appreciate that they induced a metaphysical being into their non-physical, or ‘thought’, experiment.    I must restrain a chuckle for their supposing that a demon is more concerned about the position and temperature of individual atoms than the character of individual souls.

Maxwell’s thought experiment was probing the concept of entropy, and the idea that it can be decreased if a trap door, operated by a ‘demon’, were to isolate hot and cool atoms into separate rooms over time.  The experiment fails since it failed to consider that the energy used to operate the door introduced more entropy, or disorder, than separating the molecules would eliminate.  Laplace’s thought experiment was concerned with the idea that if a ‘demon’ knew the location knows the precise location and momentum of every atom in the universe, their future behavior can be predicted – hence, determined…ergo, determinism.   The experiment fails for several reasons, but primarily because of the indeterminism inherent in quantum mechanics and the overarching chaos theory.  Again, I suppose these scientists chose the right characters if they were actually considering that they were delving into the realm of chaos and disorder.  I still think that they missed the mark in that actual demons – yes real demons, for you cannot cast an idea or a psychological paroxysm into a herd of pigs – are more concerned with chaos and disorder or the level of the human soul than the level of atomic physics.