On E. T. Jaynes view, thermodynamic entropy of a system is, up to a multiplicative constant, the same as the the information entropy for the predicted distribution with maximum uncertainty conditioned on the expectation values of some state variables. In other words, thermodynamic entropy in a way has to do with the information we have about the system. If E. T. Jaynes Maximum entropy thermodynamics gives the correct explanation of entropy and the second law of thermodynamics, does a concept like "heat death" make any sense?
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Excellent profound question. Just my brief two cents here. I'm sure someone can elaborate better.
From a statistical mechanics point of view, the second law of thermodynamics (increase of entropy) emerges from course-graining phase space, i.e. loss of information. This is very consistent with the approach of Jaynes.
Indeed, suppose that at some point the universe reaches a complete thermodynamic equilibrium, which would be the most disordered, structureless case, then there would be no useful dynamics left to do, so one could call this a heat death.
Wouter
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Jaynes was just wrong. Thermodynamic systems change when they are out of equilibrium to get closer to equilibrium. This is a physical change in general. For example, if you have two pockets of gas at different pressure and temperature that come into contact their state will change physically as a result. This is definitely not a matter of anyone's knowledge since it can and does happen when nobody is around. For more explanation see "Time and Chance" by David Albert, Chapter Three, Section 3.
alanf
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