Comment on Phys. Rev. Lett. 110, 168702 (2013): Causal Entropic Forces

TL;DR

This paper critiques a recent thermodynamic model linking entropy maximization to intelligence, highlighting prior simpler models that already captured similar force-entropy relationships in non-interacting particle systems.

Contribution

It clarifies that the main relations proposed in the recent work have been previously derived within a basic statistical thermodynamic framework.

Findings

Previous models already described force-entropy correlations

The recent model is a generalization of earlier simpler systems

No new thermodynamic principles are introduced in the recent work

Abstract

The recent Letter by Wissner-Gross and Freer [1] proposes a relationship between intelligence and entropy maximization based on a causal generalization of entropic forces over configuration space paths, which may beautifully induce sophisticated behaviors associated with competitive adaptation on time scales faster than natural evolution. These authors suggest a potentially general thermodynamic model of adaptive behavior as a non-equilibrium process in open systems. On the basis of the force-entropy correlations published by us a decade ago [2], we point out that their main relations have been previously reported within a simpler statistical thermodynamic model where non-interacting moving particles are assumed to form an elastic body. [1] A.D. Wissner-Gross and C.E. Free, Phys. Rev. Lett. 110 (2013) 168702 [2] E. Canessa, Physica A 341 (2004) 165 -also at arXiv:cond-mat/0403724