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"Entropy -- Philosophy"
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Now : the physics of time
\"'Now' is a simple concept--you're reading this sentence now. Yet a real definition of 'now' has eluded even the great Einstein. We know that time stretches and is affected by gravity and velocity. Yet, as ... physicist Richard A. Muller points out, it is only today that we have all the physics at hand--relativity, entropy, entanglement, antimatter, and the Big Bang--to explain the flow of time. With these building blocks in place, Muller [posits that] our expanding universe is continuously creating not only new space but also new time\"-- Provided by publisher.
BOOK
Entropic Creation
Entropic Creation is the first book to consider the cultural and religious responses to the second law of thermodynamics, and the theory proposed by certain Christian scholars during the period 1860 to 1920 that the entropic creation argument is proof of a divine creation of the world.
eBook
Two Essays on Entropy
This title is part of UC Press's Voices Revived program, which commemorates University of California Press's mission to seek out and cultivate the brightest minds and give them voice, reach, and impact. Drawing on a backlist dating to 1893, Voices Revived makes high-quality, peer-reviewed scholarship accessible once again using print-on-demand technology. This title was originally published in 1977.
eBook
On the Reality of the Quantum State Once Again: A No-Go Theorem for ψ-Ontic Models?
In a recent paper (Found Phys 54:14, 2024), Carcassi, Oldofredi and Aidala concluded that the
ψ
-ontic models defined by Harrigan and Spekkens cannot be consistent with quantum mechanics, since the information entropy of a mixture of non-orthogonal states are different in these two theories according to their information theoretic analysis. In this paper, I argue that this no-go theorem for
ψ
-ontic models is false by explaining the physical origin of the von Neumann entropy in quantum mechanics.
Journal Article
Is the maximum entropy production just a heuristic principle? Metaphysics on natural determination
The Maximum Entropy Production Principle (MEPP) stands out as an overarching principle that rules life phenomena in Nature. However, its explanatory power beyond heuristics remains controversial. On the one hand, the MEPP has been successfully applied principally to non-living systems far from thermodynamic equilibrium. On the other hand, the underlying assumptions to lay the MEPP’s theoretical foundations and range of applicability increase the possibilities of conflicting interpretations. More interestingly, from a metaphysical stance, the MEPP’s philosophical status is hotly debated: does the MEPP passively translate physical information into macroscopic predictions or actively select the physical solution in multistable systems, granting the connection between scientific models and reality? This paper deals directly with this dilemma by discussing natural determination from three angles: (1) Heuristics help natural philosophers to build an ontology. (2) The MEPP’s ontological status may stem from its selection of new forms of causation beyond physicalism. (3) The MEPP’s ontology ultimately depends on the much-discussed question of the ontology of probabilities in an information-theoretic approach and the ontology of macrostates according to the Boltzmannian definition of entropy.
Journal Article
Entropy and Creativity, a Dialectical Approach
This book positions entropy and creativity as key philosophical categories and presents the action of entropy and the notion of creativity on the informational, natural-scientific, social-humanistic and metaphysical levels. In this sense, the book expands the scale of the civilization envisioned by Nikolai Kardashev and Carl Sagan; deepens the readership's understanding of the anthropic principle and the paradigm concept; provides a layered explanation and solution to the Fermi paradox; corrects the parameters of the Drake equation; explores singularity outside of the traditional framework of this term and points to the philosophical potential of such an expansion; and presents a unique chain of being -- from elementary information to the totality of all possible worlds.
eBook
A No-Go Theorem for ψ-Ontic Models? No, Surely Not!
In a recent reply to my criticisms (Carcassi et al. in Found Phys 55:5, 2025), Carcassi, Oldofredi, and Aidala (COA) admitted that their no-go result for
ψ
-ontic models is based on the implicit assumption that all states are equally distinguishable, but insisted that this assumption is a part of the
ψ
-ontic models defined by Harrigan and Spekkens, thus maintaining their result’s validity. In this note, I refute their argument again, emphasizing that the ontological models framework (OMF) does not entail this assumption. I clarify the distinction between ontological distinctness and experimental distinguishability, showing that the latter depends on dynamics absent from OMF, and address COA’s broader claims about quantum statistical mechanics and Bohmian mechanics.
Journal Article
What is Shannon information?
Despite of its formal precision and its great many applications, Shannon's theory still offers an active terrain of debate when the interpretation of its main concepts is the task at issue. In this article we try to analyze certain points that still remain obscure or matter of discussion, and whose elucidation contribute to the assessment of the different interpretative proposals about the concept of information. In particular, we argue for a pluralist position, according to which the different views about information are no longer rival, but different interpretations of a single formal concept.
Journal Article