A challenge to the second law of thermodynamics from cognitive science and vice versa.
We show that the so-called Multiple-Computations Theorem in cognitive science and philosophy of mind challenges Landauer's Principle in physics. Since the orthodox wisdom in statistical physics is that Landauer's Principle is implied by, or is the mechanical equivalent of, the Second Law of thermody...
| Publicado en: | Synthese Vol. 199; no. 1/2; pp. 4897 - 4928 |
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| Autores principales: | , |
| Formato: | Artículo |
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Springer Nature
Dec2021
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| Acceso en línea: | Ver este registro en EBSCOhost |
| fields | @attributes: recordID: 1 pdfLink: plink: https://search.ebscohost.com/login.aspx?direct=true&db=hlh&AN=153650992&site=ehost-live header: @attributes: shortDbName: hlh uiTerm: 153650992 longDbName: Humanities International Complete uiTag: AN controlInfo: bkinfo: jinfo: jid: 00397857 4LI jtl: Synthese issn: 00397857 maglogo: N pubinfo: dt: Dec2021 vid: 199 iid: 1/2 pid: 237 pub: Springer Nature artinfo: ui: 153650992 10.1007/s11229-020-03008-0 ppf: 4897 ppct: 31 formats: fmt: – @attributes: type: T – @attributes: type: P size: 1MB tig: atl: A challenge to the second law of thermodynamics from cognitive science and vice versa. aug: au: Hemmo, Meir Shenker, Orly affil: Philosophy Department, University of Haifa, 199 Aba Khoushy Ave. Mount Carmel, 3498838, Haifa, Israel Program in History and Philosophy of Science, Hebrew University of Jerusalem, 91905, Jerusalem, Israel su: Cognitive science Second law of thermodynamics Philosophy of science Philosophy of mind Computer systems sug: subj: Cognitive science Second law of thermodynamics Philosophy of science Philosophy of mind Computer systems keyword: Computational theory of the mind Entropy Individuation of computation Landauer's Principle Logical (ir)reversibility Multiple-computations, multiple-realization Second Law of thermodynamics ab: We show that the so-called Multiple-Computations Theorem in cognitive science and philosophy of mind challenges Landauer's Principle in physics. Since the orthodox wisdom in statistical physics is that Landauer's Principle is implied by, or is the mechanical equivalent of, the Second Law of thermodynamics, our argument shows that the Multiple-Computations Theorem challenges the universal validity of the Second Law of thermodynamics itself. We construct two examples of computations carried out by one and the same dynamical process with respect to which Landauer's principle implies contradictory predictions concerning the entropy increase. Our two examples are based on a weak version of the Multiple-Computations Theorem, which is quite uncontroversial, and therefore they amount to a clear refutation of the universal validity of Landauer's Principle. We consider some responses to this argument that do not attempt to single out one computation over the others, and we show that they do not work. We further consider ways out of the argument by externalist approaches supporting the computational theory of the mind who propose that the interaction of a computing system with the environment is enough to select a single computation over the others. We show on physical grounds that this approach fails too. We then reverse the direction of our challenge and formulate a dilemma for supporters of the computational theory of the mind: (i) they must reject (or amend somehow) the causal closure of physic; or else (ii) they must accept on a priori grounds that Landauer's Principle and the Second Law of thermodynamics are not universally valid. Finally, we present our version of a type–type mind-brain identity theory called Flat Physicalism, which is based on the paradigm case of statistical mechanics, and we show that it circumvents the challenge from Landauer's Principle and the Multiple-Computations Theorem and does not fall prey to our dilemma. pubtype: Academic Journal doctype: Article src: R language: English refInfo: copyright: @attributes: flag: Y custom: Synthese is a copyright of Springer, 2021. All Rights Reserved. item: Synthese holder: Springer Nature dt: @attributes: year: 2021 holdings: @attributes: islocal: N |
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