Landauer’s Principle and Thermodynamics

Landauer’s principleLandauer’s principle is reconsidered and re-evaluated. It is demonstrated that it is not consistent with Carnot’s theorem, when addressed to Szilard’s microscopic one molecule engine. The erasure procedure is analysed and its consequences examined. The role of the infamous Maxwell DemonMaxwell Demon as a saviour of the Second Law is not endorsed as presented by information theorists corroborating earlier criticism by Earman and Norton. To rescue the celebrated thesis, a new rationale, the steady stateSteady state scenario, is presented in order to identify and construe what is relevant for an integral understanding of the information process in terms of thermodynamics and statistical mechanics. The erasure process is extended to evoke Wheeler’s dictum ‘it from bit’ with its counter ‘bit from it’. The conclusion communicates a consistent account of the energy-entropy balance suggesting a fundamental negentropic gain as a consequence of the non-equilibrium dissipative dynamics beyond the familiar accommodation of the standard canonical ensemble. Several applications, including microscopic self-organization and biological evolution are brought up and referenced.