> however it's utterly unclear what the question is that needs to be solved
What Maxwell’s gate appears to imagine is a perpetual motion machine, which if possible would obviously be very important for our survival as a species.
Remember, once the universe suffers heat death, obviously we’ll be gone too. As we reach nearer and nearer to the heat death of the universe it will become more important to utilize heat energy efficiently.
The original term “demon” was intended as “daemon”, a tireless godlike worker, and not a malicious demon, but I find it more clear to instead envision a membrane (hence my use of the term “gate” instead of demon, which I think is a poor name for the thought experiment because it’s distracting) that allows heat to travel in only one direction, essentially providing free air conditioning by not allowing that heat energy to dissipate into thermal equilibrium.
This may seem like a silly and minor thing (free air conditioning, what’s the big deal, right?) - it’s a big deal because assuming that an alien race survives far enough into the future and are orbiting the last star in the universe, that heat will be the only thing letting them power their starship, and the air conditioning will be the only thing keeping them from being fried to a crisp.
What Maxwell’s gate appears to imagine is a perpetual motion machine, which if possible would obviously be very important for our survival as a species.
Remember, once the universe suffers heat death, obviously we’ll be gone too. As we reach nearer and nearer to the heat death of the universe it will become more important to utilize heat energy efficiently.
The original term “demon” was intended as “daemon”, a tireless godlike worker, and not a malicious demon, but I find it more clear to instead envision a membrane (hence my use of the term “gate” instead of demon, which I think is a poor name for the thought experiment because it’s distracting) that allows heat to travel in only one direction, essentially providing free air conditioning by not allowing that heat energy to dissipate into thermal equilibrium.
This may seem like a silly and minor thing (free air conditioning, what’s the big deal, right?) - it’s a big deal because assuming that an alien race survives far enough into the future and are orbiting the last star in the universe, that heat will be the only thing letting them power their starship, and the air conditioning will be the only thing keeping them from being fried to a crisp.