23 APR 2013 by ideonexus
Intelligence as a Response to Entropy
Recent advances in fields ranging from cosmology
to computer science have hinted at a possible deep connection between intelligence and entropy maximization.
In cosmology, the causal entropic principle for anthropic
selection has used the maximization of entropy production
in causally connected space-time regions as a thermodynamic proxy for intelligent observer concentrations in the
prediction of cosmological parameters [1]. In geoscience,
entropy production maximization has been proposed a...
1 
Researchers create an AI that seeks to maximize its potential future histories and therefore tackles goals like playing the stockmarket and balancing balls on sticks because to let the money run out or the ball drop would reduce its potential future histories. Intelligence seeks to maximize entropy.
11 APR 2011 by ideonexus
Lovelock Gets the Second Law of Thermodynamics Wrong
Let us again look at the laws of thermodynamics. It is true that at first sight they read like the notice at the gait of Dante's Hell; but in fact, tough as they are and although like income tax they cannot without penalyt be evaded, they can with forethought be avoided. The Second Law states unequivocally that the entropy of an open system must increase. Since we are all open systems, this means that all of us are doomed to die.He gets this backwards. The Second Law only applies to closed systems. We and our planet are not closed systems, we are open systems; therefore, mortality is not required of us. In fact, the second law states that, so long as we can keep exporting entropy by taking in energy from outside sources, we can live forever.
