Reference library
Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process
Paper summary
Analyzes the relationship between logical irreversibility and physical heat generation. The paper argues that operations losing distinguishable information impose thermodynamic costs, separating erasure-related limits from an assumption of heat for every computational step.
Relevance to the project
Foundational context for discussing information and entropy. Keep physical computer energy use, logical state loss, and the simulation's abstract energy ledger distinct.
Thermodynamic lower bounds do not measure actual hardware energy or prove life criteria.
Source record
- Reference ID
- doi-10-1147-rd-53-0183
- Archived version
- IBM 2000 reprint of the 1961 article; reprint footer and title visually checked
- Summary provenance
- reference-library/papers/doi-10-1147-rd-53-0183/metadata.json · summary
- Review status
- initial orientation summary; not a critical full-paper review
- Reading scope
- Visual inspection of scan PDF page 1 (abstract and opening text) and last page (references); no searchable layer. Initial orientation only, not a full proof or methods review.