In this episode, we dive deep with philosopher of physics Wayne Myrvold to puncture entropy clichés and reframe thermodynamics as a resource theory. He argues the “entropy always increases” slogan is a consequence—not the law—and shows that Clausius’s entropy is defined only given the second law, while Gibbs vs. Boltzmann entropies answer different questions (“which entropy?”). We tour Maxwell’s demon, Landauer erasure, available energy/Helmholtz free energy, and why, once fluctuations matter, Carnot efficiency is only a statistical bound. Along the way: macrostates vs. microstates, why “disorder” misleads, ergodicity’s limited relevance, whether the universe is an isolated system, heat death as resource exhaustion, and how collapse theories would rewrite the story. We even touch QFT/stat-mech pedagogy and career advice. If you're curious about what entropy really is—and how information, agency, and objectives change the answer—this one’s for you.

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Timestamps:
- 00:00 - Is Entropy in the System or in Our Minds?
- 07:12 - The Original Thermodynamics: A 'Resource Theory' of Heat and Power
- 18:24 - The Second Law Doesn't Assume Entropy; Entropy Requires the Second Law
- 30:58 - From Caloric Fluid to Molecular Motion: The Historical View of Entropy
- 39:04 - Maxwell's Revelation: Why the Second Law Can't Be an Absolute Truth
- 48:11 - Information as a Resource: How Knowledge Can Seemingly Defeat Entropy
- 1:00:53 - Boltzmann vs. Gibbs: The Objective vs. Subjective Views of Entropy
- 1:10:24 - Maxwell's Demon and Landauer's Principle: The Physical Cost of Information
- 1:25:02 - The Inevitable "Heat Death" of the Universe?
- 1:30:19 - The Fallacy of Equating Entropy with "Disorder"
- 1:35:21 - The Ergodic Hypothesis: A Foundational, Yet Possibly Irrelevant, Concept
- 1:43:52 - Why Statistical Mechanics May Be on Shaky Ground (Like QFT)
- 1:50:50 - A Professor's Advice: Don't Jump on the Research Bandwagon

Links Mentioned:
- Ted Jacobson [TOE]: https://youtu.be/3mhctWlXyV8
- Concerning Several Conveniently Applicable Forms For The Main Equations Of The Mechanical Heat Theory [Paper]: https://web.lemoyne.edu/giunta/Clausius1865.pdf
- John Norton [TOE]: https://youtu.be/Tghl6aS5A3M
- On An Absolute Thermometric Scale [Paper]: https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/teaching/2559_Therm_Stat_Mech/docs/Thomson_1848.pdf
- Carnot Efficiency: https://energyeducation.ca/encyclopedia/Carnot_efficiency
- Maxwell’s Talk On Molecules: https://victorianweb.org/science/maxwell/molecules.html
- Helmholtz Free Energy: https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/engineering/helmholtz-free-energy
- Boltzmann Entropy: https://chem.libretexts.org/Courses/Western_Washington_University/Biophysical_Chemistry_(Smirnov_and_McCarty)/01%3A_Biochemical_Thermodynamics/1.05%3A_The_Boltzmann_Distribution_and_the_Statistical_Definition_of_Entropy
- Maxwell’s Letter: https://cudl.lib.cam.ac.uk/view/PH-CAVENDISH-P-00092/1
- Landauer’s Principle: https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S135521980300039X
- On A Universal Tendency In Nature To The Dissipation Of Mechanical Energy: https://www.tandfonline.com/doi/abs/10.1080/14786445208647126
- Neil Turok [TOE]: https://youtu.be/zNZCa1pVE20
- Roger Penrose [TOE]: https://youtu.be/sGm505TFMbU
- Sean Carroll [TOE]: https://youtu.be/9AoRxtYZrZo
- Understanding The Infinite [Book]: https://www.amazon.com/Understanding-Infinite-Shaughan-Lavine/dp/0674921178
- Classical Electrodynamics [Book]: https://www.amazon.com/Classical-Electrodynamics-John-David-Jackson/dp/1119770769
- Why Information Is Entropy [YouTube]: https://youtu.be/8Uilw9t-syQ
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