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Does a Computer Have an Arrow of Time?

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Abstract

Schulman (Entropy 7(4):221–233, 2005) has argued that Boltzmann’s intuition, that the psychological arrow of time is necessarily aligned with the thermodynamic arrow, is correct. Schulman gives an explicit physical mechanism for this connection, based on the brain being representable as a computer, together with certain thermodynamic properties of computational processes. Hawking (Physical Origins of Time Asymmetry, Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1994) presents similar, if briefer, arguments. The purpose of this paper is to critically examine the support for the link between thermodynamics and an arrow of time for computers. The principal arguments put forward by Schulman and Hawking will be shown to fail. It will be shown that any computational process that can take place in an entropy increasing universe, can equally take place in an entropy decreasing universe. This conclusion does not automatically imply a psychological arrow can run counter to the thermodynamic arrow. Some alternative possible explanations for the alignment of the two arrows will be briefly discussed.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Centre for Time, SOPHI, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia

    Owen J. E. Maroney

  2. Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, 31 Caroline Street North, Waterloo, Ontario, N2L 2Y5, Canada

    Owen J. E. Maroney

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Maroney, O.J.E. Does a Computer Have an Arrow of Time?. Found Phys 40, 205–238 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10701-009-9386-6

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