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The mind body problem and the second law of thermodynamics

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Abstract

Cartesian mind body dualism and modern versions of this viewpoint posit a mind thermodynamically unrelated to the body but informationally interactive. The relation between information and entropy developed by Leon Brillouin demonstrates that any information about the state of a system has entropic consequences. It is therefore impossible to dissociate the mind's information from the body's entropy. Knowledge of that state of the system without an energetically significant measurement would lead to a violation of the second law of thermodynamics.

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References

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Morowitz, H.J. The mind body problem and the second law of thermodynamics. Biol Philos 2, 271–275 (1987). https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00128833

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00128833

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