I enjoyed this article. As several commenters have suggested, it seems not just counterintuitive but actually non-physical to say that the warm water has become colder just because I know more about it. The subjective nature of entropy that this seems to imply is absurd. As has been pointed out, a stationary thermometer in the water will show the same reading after my visit from Saint LaPlace as it did before.
I think the problem is resolved if we consider our system boundary to include not just the water, but the observer as well. The entropy of the water ... (read more)
I enjoyed this article. As several commenters have suggested, it seems not just counterintuitive but actually non-physical to say that the warm water has become colder just because I know more about it. The subjective nature of entropy that this seems to imply is absurd. As has been pointed out, a stationary thermometer in the water will show the same reading after my visit from Saint LaPlace as it did before.
I think the problem is resolved if we consider our system boundary to include not just the water, but the observer as well. The entropy of the water ... (read more)