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asr comments on Entropy and Temperature - Less Wrong Discussion

26 Post author: spxtr 17 December 2014 08:04AM

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Comment author: asr 19 December 2014 06:06:32AM 1 point [-]

There is a peculiar consequence of this, pointed out by Cosma Shalizi. Suppose we have a deterministic physical system S, and we observe this system carefully over time. We are steadily gaining information about its microstates, and therefore by this definition, its entropy should be decreasing.

You might say, "the system isn't closed, because it is being observed." But consider the system "S plus the observer." Saying that entropy is nondecreasing over time seems to require that the observer is in doubt about its own microstates. What does that mean?