
72 | César Hidalgo on Information in Societies, Economies, and the Universe
From Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
Published 11/11/2019
Maxwell's Demon is a famous thought experiment in which a mischievous imp uses knowledge of the velocities of gas molecules in a box to decrease the entropy of the gas, which could then be used to do useful work such as pushing a piston. This is a classic example of converting information (what the…