A “realistic” Maxwell’s demon is in fact a cognitive robot

Abstract

We show that a realistic device performing the activity of Maxwell’s demon has to contain at least two units: an informer which gains information of speeds of molecules and an operator which passes the marked molecules through a microscopic door in the wall dividing a gas cylinder. Such a device represents in fact a cognitive robot, which is studied in robotics. We describe the functional interaction between both units with respect to the goal of Maxwell’s to create a temperature difference in a gas cylinder and point out that in living objects there are many Maxwell‐like devices, e.g. enzymes, which are organized in a fashion similar to the classical Maxwell device.