<b>Micah’s New Law of Thermodynamics: A Signal-Dissipation Framework for Equilibrium and Consciousness</b>
Creators: name: Blumberg, Micah
Publisher: name: figshare
Year: 2025
Subjects: classificationCode: 510304
subject: Thermodynamics and statistical physics
classificationCode: 510803
subject: Quantum information, computation and communication
classificationCode: 510802
subject: Foundations of quantum mechanics
classificationCode: 490205
subject: Mathematical aspects of quantum and conformal field theory, quantum gravity and string theory
classificationCode: 520203
subject: Cognitive neuroscience
classificationCode: 320999
subject: Neurosciences not elsewhere classified
classificationCode: 310104
subject: Cell neurochemistry

description: <b>Micah’s New Law of Thermodynamics: A Signal-Dissipation Framework for Equilibrium and Consciousness</b><b>Description</b><br>Micah’s New Law of Thermodynamics proposes that in any physical or biological system, equilibrium arises through the <b>stepwise dissipation</b> of differences (energy, phase, pressure, chemical potentials, etc.) as local “wave-based computations.” Each collision or interaction—whether between molecules in a gas or neurons in the brain—acts like a small, iterative step that spreads and diminishes these property differentials until a uniform or coherent state is reached.In a thermodynamic sense, these interactions align with classical entropy increase: the system “computes” its way to higher entropy by incrementally smoothing out imbalances. However, Micah’s Law goes further by reframing these local exchanges as <b>signal transmissions</b>—waves (heat, light, electromagnetic, mechanical) that carry and reduce differences over time. This viewpoint bridges physical thermodynamics and cognitive processes:<b>Physical Systems</b><br>In gases or fluids, collisions systematically dissipate kinetic and thermal differences. Over many interactions, momentum/energy gradients flatten, reflecting the classical drive to equilibrium.<b>Biological and Neural Systems</b><br>In the brain, oscillations and traveling waves serve as these same “wave-based” updates. Local discrepancies (phase-wave differentials) in firing patterns get iteratively minimized until large-scale synchrony emerges—facilitating learning, memory consolidation, and even consciousness.<b>Consciousness and Agentic Biology</b><br>By seeing neuron–neuron interactions as small computations that continuously dissipate phase or activity mismatches, Micah’s New Law illuminates how distributed brain regions integrate into a unified conscious state. It parallels principles like Karl Friston’s Free Energy Principle, recasting “prediction errors” as wave-differences that must be dissipated.<b>Key Insights</b><b>Local-to-Global Equilibrium</b>: Whether in gases or brains, wave-like exchanges locally reduce differences, driving the whole system toward equilibrium.<b>Signal-Dissipation Equals Computation</b>: Each interaction step functions as a “micro-computation,” with collisions/oscillations systematically diminishing gradients.<b>Unified Mechanism</b>: This framework unifies thermodynamics, information theory, and neural processes—showing how the same stepwise, wave-driven principle underlies entropy increase, learning, and conscious integration.<b>Applications</b><b>Thermodynamics</b>: Reinterprets entropy increase as computational “signal smoothing.”<b>Neuroscience</b>: Explains how traveling waves coordinate activity across neural circuits, potentially fueling phenomena like awareness or agentic behavior.<b>Conscious AI</b>: Suggests that multi-agent or oscillation-based AI could harness continuous feedback loops—akin to dissipating phase differences—to achieve robust, self-correcting intelligence.In essence, <b>Micah’s New Law of Thermodynamics</b> offers a deeper look at how local, wave-like interactions drive global system order, connecting everything from heat diffusion to the brain’s synchronization-based consciousness under one unifying principle of “signal-differential dissipation.”