---
slug: the-price-of-forgetting
passed: 2026-10-14
by: the assay line (research/assay-line/queue-1014c/), Codex fixer and repair worker directed by claude-assaying-boyle-1014; source record by Codex, checked by Codex
checked: 128
confirmed: 102
wrong: 26
unverifiable: 0
observed: 0
stale: 0
minor: 13
---

This was the directed correction pass for the-price-of-forgetting at de635e514e, using the 27 decisions in research/assay-line/queue-1014c/the-price-of-forgetting/triage.json. The fixer re-read the evidence for each decision, repaired this layer's text for 13 WRONG and 13 MINOR items, and rejected X5 with supporting evidence. The repair worker confirmed that X15, X16 and X17 still have unannotated copies in There, Here, outside this worker's edit scope: 23 findings are fixed (11 WRONG and 12 MINOR), and 3 remain open (2 WRONG and 1 MINOR), pending board note IDs. The record also carries forward the 101 CONFIRMED claims independently re-read by the Codex N2 checker, preserving their sources, original wording and stated scope; those inherited confirmations are identified explicitly below, not represented as 101 new external-source reads by this fixer or repair worker. MINOR items count in wrong for gate arithmetic. The seven distinct WRONG errors have correction lines in HTML and Markdown; MINOR fixes have no separate page notice.

## Claims

- MINOR | X1: “And for a long time no one could say exactly what was wrong with it, because nothing is wrong with the mechanics.” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-15-04432/article_deploy/entropy-15-04432.pdf | Re-read Norton 2013 pp. 4439-4440: failed mechanical proposals and the stipulated intelligent thought experiment are distinguished. The qualification is to the illustrated ideal mechanism and its Landauer-Bennett explanation.
- WRONG | X2: “Below is that erasure, run as a real (if idealised) physical process: a one-bit memory modelled as a particle in a double well [...] left well is 0, right well is 1 [...] that the protocol resets entirely into the right well. The work it costs depends on how fast you push. Drag the speed and watch the cost fall toward a floor it can approach but never cross.” | git show f5e5f84f34:public/strata/the-price-of-forgetting/index.html | Re-read the authored drawing: well(pad, well 0 (keep), pR) is left of well(pad * 2 + wellW, well 1 (clear), pL). The readout reports reset into well 0. State-variable names do not establish drawing coordinates.
- WRONG | X3: “the assumption every version of the paradox secretly makes” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-15-04432/article_deploy/entropy-15-04432.pdf | Re-read Norton 2013 section 3.4, p. 4444: Svedberg and Smoluchowski designs lack dedicated memory devices. Free erasure is this illustrated memory cycle's counterfactual, not a premise of every demon design.
- MINOR | X4: “What is settled: the bound is real. Erasing a bit in a thermal environment costs at least kT·ln2 of heat.” | https://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~verga/pdfs/Berut-2012yq.pdf | Re-read Berut et al. 2012 pp. 187-188: initial probabilities are one-half, complete reset has the mean heat floor kT ln2, individual trajectories can dissipate negative heat, and incomplete reset has a lower bound.
- CONFIRMED | X5: “On his view the demon is genuinely impossible, but for a different reason [...] a fluctuation argument descending from Smoluchowski (1912), generalised into a no-go theorem” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-15-04432/article_deploy/entropy-15-04432.pdf | REJECTED with evidence. Re-read Norton 2013 p. 4434: Part II revives Smoluchowski's fluctuation insight as a no-go result. Page 4480 applies it to demons operating as molecular-scale computers. The separate phase-volume argument does not invalidate the page's attributed fluctuation lineage, which does not claim to enumerate all his arguments.
- MINOR | X6: “Landauer's principle is a true-enough bound that is nonetheless not the thing that saves the Second Law.” | https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/papers/Eaters_final.pdf | Re-read Norton 2005 abstract, p. 375: he establishes restricted erasure results while rejecting the unrestricted principle. The revision reports that restricted acceptance.
- MINOR | X7: “Myrvold and Norton were still trading papers in 2023.” | https://doi.org/10.31389/pop.81 | Re-read the joint Myrvold-Norton 2023 abstract and body: their analyses are compatible and use different background assumptions. This is a joint clarification, not a pair of papers exchanged in 2023.
- WRONG | X8: “What is not in dispute is the strange little moral the whole affair leaves behind.” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-15-04432/article_deploy/entropy-15-04432.pdf | Re-read Norton 2013 section 3.5, p. 4446: his entropy-cost argument includes completing processes other than erasure. The exclusive-cost moral belongs to the Landauer-Bennett account and is disputed.
- WRONG | X9: “In a universe of conserved quantities, forgetting is the act that always, measurably, costs.” | https://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~verga/pdfs/Berut-2012yq.pdf | Re-read Berut et al. 2012 pp. 187-188: initial probabilities are one-half, complete reset has the mean heat floor kT ln2, individual trajectories can dissipate negative heat, and incomplete reset has a lower bound.
- MINOR | X10: “Every number on this page is recomputed live in your browser by the same engines verified offline in /research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs (run it: node research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs → 39 / 39 checks pass).” | git show f5e5f84f34:research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs | Re-read the browser code and verifier: H and erasureWork drive the live instruments; simpsonWork and erasureWorkMC occur only in the offline verifier, which also computes the molar conversion. The static 1.729 kJ/mol figure is not recomputed by the browser.
- MINOR | X11: “the erasure is a two-state master equation whose quasistatic work equals the free-energy change ΔF = kT·ln2 exactly,” | git show f5e5f84f34:research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs | Re-read Emax=20, Fqs=ln2-ln(1+exp(-20)), and the restoration term -Emax*pLfinal. The ramp is about 2.061e-9 kT below ln2; full-cycle quasistatic work also includes restoration and residual entropy. The exact ramp and complete-reset limit must not be conflated.
- WRONG | X12: “Top: a one-bit memory's occupancy draining from two wells into the right well as it is erased. Bottom: erasure work versus protocol duration, descending toward the kT·ln2 floor and never below it.” | git show f5e5f84f34:public/strata/the-price-of-forgetting/index.html | Re-read the authored drawing: well(pad, well 0 (keep), pR) is left of well(pad * 2 + wellW, well 1 (clear), pL). The readout reports reset into well 0. State-variable names do not establish drawing coordinates.
- MINOR | X13: “39/39 offline checks; every figure recomputed in your browser.” | git show f5e5f84f34:research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs | Re-read the browser code and verifier: H and erasureWork drive the live instruments; simpsonWork and erasureWorkMC occur only in the offline verifier, which also computes the molar conversion. The static 1.729 kJ/mol figure is not recomputed by the browser.
- MINOR | X14: “Maxwell's demon seems to break the second law of thermodynamics by sorting molecules through a frictionless trapdoor, and nothing is wrong with its mechanics.” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-15-04432/article_deploy/entropy-15-04432.pdf | Re-read Norton 2013 pp. 4439-4440: failed mechanical proposals and the stipulated intelligent thought experiment are distinguished. The qualification is to the illustrated ideal mechanism and its Landauer-Bennett explanation.
- WRONG | X15: “Each page makes the point the same way: a control that switches the hidden cost off and lets the impossible briefly appear.” | git show f5e5f84f34:src/content/strata/parrondo.md | Re-read the pinned Parrondo Markdown dek: its capital-blind control removes the winning effect, with mixture drift -0.085. This page's free-erasure switch instead makes its model ledger positive.
- WRONG | X16: “The Surprise: a deterministic system cannot know its own conclusion without running [...] computational irreducibility, a cost you cannot optimise away.” | https://www.wolframscience.com/nks/p738--computational-irreducibility/ | Re-read Wolfram p. 738: two deterministic examples have shortcuts; the third only appears irreducible. The linked Surprise source includes a Rule 90 shortcut. Determinism does not imply irreducibility, and no known shortcut does not prove impossibility.
- MINOR | X17: “Here the 'clean line' is the demon's apparent violation of the Second Law: airtight as mechanics, it dissolves only when you look at the bookkeeping of the demon's own memory.” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-15-04432/article_deploy/entropy-15-04432.pdf | Re-read Norton 2013 pp. 4439-4440: failed mechanical proposals and the stipulated intelligent thought experiment are distinguished. The qualification is to the illustrated ideal mechanism and its Landauer-Bennett explanation.
- MINOR | X18: “The unsettling part is that nothing is wrong with the *mechanics*: the molecules really do separate. The flaw, when it was finally located, lay in the demon's memory.” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-15-04432/article_deploy/entropy-15-04432.pdf | Re-read Norton 2013 pp. 4439-4440: failed mechanical proposals and the stipulated intelligent thought experiment are distinguished. The qualification is to the illustrated ideal mechanism and its Landauer-Bennett explanation.
- WRONG | X19: “The control is the proof: switch erasure off ("forgetting is free") and the books tip into a perpetuum mobile [...] the assumption every version of the paradox secretly makes, made visible.” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-15-04432/article_deploy/entropy-15-04432.pdf | Re-read Norton 2013 section 3.4, p. 4444: Svedberg and Smoluchowski designs lack dedicated memory devices. Free erasure is this illustrated memory cycle's counterfactual, not a premise of every demon design.
- MINOR | X20: “Everything quantitative is recomputed in the browser by the same engines verified offline in `research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs` (run: `node research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs` → **39/39 checks pass**): the Szilard work and its `∫P dV` cross-check, the master-equation erasure with its quasistatic floor (`ΔF = kT·ln2`), the `1/τ` dissipation scaling, an independent stochastic cross-check, the ledger, and the SI conversions (`kT·ln2 = 2.871 zJ = 17.92 meV = 1.729 kJ/mol` at 300 K).” | git show f5e5f84f34:research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs | Re-read the browser code and verifier: H and erasureWork drive the live instruments; simpsonWork and erasureWorkMC occur only in the offline verifier, which also computes the molar conversion. The static 1.729 kJ/mol figure is not recomputed by the browser.
- WRONG | X21: “In a universe of conserved quantities, *forgetting* is the act that always, measurably, costs.” | https://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~verga/pdfs/Berut-2012yq.pdf | Re-read Berut et al. 2012 pp. 187-188: initial probabilities are one-half, complete reset has the mean heat floor kT ln2, individual trajectories can dissipate negative heat, and incomplete reset has a lower bound.
- WRONG | X22: “The Szilard engine extracts W = kT·H(f) of work from a single heat bath per measured bit (peaking at kT·ln2 for a fair bit); Landauer's principle says erasing that bit costs at least kT·ln2 of heat, verified live by integrating a two-state master equation to its quasistatic floor; the demon's ledger nets to zero because forgetting pays back exactly what measuring won.” | git show f5e5f84f34:public/strata/the-price-of-forgetting/index.html | Re-read the ledger: erasure uses -H(f), with H(0.10)=0.3250829734 below ln2=0.6931471806. Its ideal mean erasure floor is kT H(f); the master-equation demonstration separately starts at pL=0.5.
- MINOR | X23: “Every figure recomputed in-browser by the same engines verified offline in /research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs (39/39).” | git show f5e5f84f34:research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs | Re-read the browser code and verifier: H and erasureWork drive the live instruments; simpsonWork and erasureWorkMC occur only in the offline verifier, which also computes the molar conversion. The static 1.729 kJ/mol figure is not recomputed by the browser.
- WRONG | X24: “⚠ PERPETUAL MOTION. If forgetting were free, the demon nets +0.6931 kT of work per cycle from a single heat bath, forever [...] a perpetuum mobile of the second kind. This is the hidden assumption every form of the paradox secretly makes. It is the thing that cannot be true.” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-15-04432/article_deploy/entropy-15-04432.pdf | Re-read Norton 2013 section 3.4, p. 4444: Svedberg and Smoluchowski designs lack dedicated memory devices. Free erasure is this illustrated memory cycle's counterfactual, not a premise of every demon design.
- WRONG | X25: “⚠ PERPETUAL MOTION. If forgetting were free, the demon nets +0.3251 kT of work per cycle from a single heat bath, forever [...] a perpetuum mobile of the second kind. This is the hidden assumption every form of the paradox secretly makes. It is the thing that cannot be true.” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-15-04432/article_deploy/entropy-15-04432.pdf | Re-read Norton 2013 section 3.4, p. 4444: Svedberg and Smoluchowski designs lack dedicated memory devices. Free erasure is this illustrated memory cycle's counterfactual, not a premise of every demon design.
- WRONG | X26: “This is the hidden assumption every form of the paradox secretly makes.” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-15-04432/article_deploy/entropy-15-04432.pdf | Re-read Norton 2013 section 3.4, p. 4444: Svedberg and Smoluchowski designs lack dedicated memory devices. Free erasure is this illustrated memory cycle's counterfactual, not a premise of every demon design.
- MINOR | X27: (added) At f=0.49 and f=0.51: “A fair bit: one full bit of information, the maximum.” | git show f5e5f84f34:public/strata/the-price-of-forgetting/index.html | Re-read the original branch Math.abs(f-0.5)<0.011. It includes f=0.49 and 0.51, where H(f)=0.6929471672<ln2. The corrected fair-bit verdict requires f===0.5; the other states retain their actual entropy readout.
- CONFIRMED | “Maxwell imagined a tiny demon that sorts molecules and quietly breaks the Second Law of thermodynamics.” | https://webserver.lemoyne.edu/giunta/demon.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [001 intro-demon] Maxwell: "without expenditure of work" and "raise the temperature of B and lower that of A". This is the stipulated thought experiment, not an operating device.
- CONFIRMED | “For a century it looked like a real threat.” | https://arxiv.org/abs/2306.12447 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [002 century-threat] Parrondo 2023 describes the apparent 1867 contradiction and then says "One century later" about Landauer. This supports the approximate historical span, not an actual successful violation.
- CONFIRMED | “thinking is free, measuring is free [...] it is forgetting that costs, and it costs exactly what the demon would have stolen.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [003 intro-thinking-measuring-forgetting] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “In 1867 James Clerk Maxwell wrote a letter that has haunted physics ever since.” | https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/papers/ExorcistXIV/Exorcist1.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [004 maxwell-1867] p. 438, independently OCRed and read: "a letter of 11 December 1867 from Maxwell to Tait" and "Now conceive a finite being".
- CONFIRMED | “Imagine, he said, a being small enough to see individual molecules, standing at a tiny frictionless door between two halves of a gas-filled box.” | https://webserver.lemoyne.edu/giunta/demon.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [005 demon-apparatus] Maxwell: "without expenditure of work" and "raise the temperature of B and lower that of A". This is the stipulated thought experiment, not an operating device.
- CONFIRMED | “It opens the door only to let fast molecules drift one way and slow ones the other.” | https://webserver.lemoyne.edu/giunta/demon.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [006 sorting] Maxwell: "without expenditure of work" and "raise the temperature of B and lower that of A". This is the stipulated thought experiment, not an operating device.
- CONFIRMED | “No work is done [...] the door is frictionless, the being only watches and flicks.” | https://webserver.lemoyne.edu/giunta/demon.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [007 frictionless-no-work] Maxwell: "without expenditure of work" and "raise the temperature of B and lower that of A". This is the stipulated thought experiment, not an operating device.
- CONFIRMED | “Yet one side grows hot and the other cold, all by itself.” | https://webserver.lemoyne.edu/giunta/demon.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [008 temperature-difference] Maxwell: "without expenditure of work" and "raise the temperature of B and lower that of A". This is the stipulated thought experiment, not an operating device.
- CONFIRMED | “You could run a heat engine on that difference, forever, drawing useful work from a single warm room.” | https://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~verga/pdfs/Berut-2012yq.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [009 single-room-engine] Bérut et al., pp. 187-189: "single colloidal particle trapped in a modulated double-well potential"; the measured quantity is mean heat over repeated erasure cycles. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “The Second Law of Thermodynamics [...] the iron rule that heat does not spontaneously flow from cold to hot, that entropy does not fall on its own [...] would simply break.” | https://webserver.lemoyne.edu/giunta/demon.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [010 second-law-description] Maxwell: "without expenditure of work" and "raise the temperature of B and lower that of A". This is the stipulated thought experiment, not an operating device.
- CONFIRMED | “Maxwell called his creature a "finite being."” | https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/papers/ExorcistXIV/Exorcist1.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [011 finite-being] p. 438, independently OCRed and read: "a letter of 11 December 1867 from Maxwell to Tait" and "Now conceive a finite being".
- CONFIRMED | “Kelvin gave it the name that stuck: the demon.” | https://zapatopi.net/kelvin/papers/kinetic_theory.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [012 kelvin-naming] Heading: "Nature, April 9, 1874, pp. 441-444." Text uses "Maxwell's "intelligent demons""; Earman and Norton p. 438 additionally identify Thomson as the namer.
- CONFIRMED | “The molecules really do separate.” | https://webserver.lemoyne.edu/giunta/demon.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [014 molecules-separate] Maxwell: "without expenditure of work" and "raise the temperature of B and lower that of A". This is the stipulated thought experiment, not an operating device.
- CONFIRMED | “The door really is free.” | https://webserver.lemoyne.edu/giunta/demon.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [015 door-free] Maxwell: "without expenditure of work" and "raise the temperature of B and lower that of A". This is the stipulated thought experiment, not an operating device.
- CONFIRMED | “The flaw, when it was finally found, was not in the box. It was in the demon's head.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [016 memory-location] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “In 1929 Leó Szilárd stripped the demon down to one moving part.” | https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.19/notes/computation/Szilard-1929.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [017 szilard-1929] Translation pp. 301-304: "This gas shall consist of a single molecule"; the partition is a piston, and expansion is isothermal. The bath, measurement and conditional piston stroke are explicit.
- CONFIRMED | “Put a single molecule in a box at temperature T. Slide a partition into the middle. The molecule is now trapped on one side [...] but which? The demon measures: left or right. One bit of information.” | https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.19/notes/computation/Szilard-1929.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [018 szilard-partition-measure] Translation pp. 301-304: "This gas shall consist of a single molecule"; the partition is a piston, and expansion is isothermal. The bath, measurement and conditional piston stroke are explicit.
- CONFIRMED | “Knowing the side, it hooks a tiny piston to the partition on the molecule's side and lets the lone molecule's batterings push the piston outward. The gas expands from half the box back to the whole box, isothermally, the heat bath topping up the energy the molecule spends. Work comes out.” | https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.19/notes/computation/Szilard-1929.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [019 szilard-piston] Translation pp. 301-304: "This gas shall consist of a single molecule"; the partition is a piston, and expansion is isothermal. The bath, measurement and conditional piston stroke are explicit.
- CONFIRMED | “For one ideal-gas molecule the pressure is P = kT/V, so an isothermal expansion from V/2 to V yields W = ∫P dV = kT·ln2.” | https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.19/notes/computation/Szilard-1929.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [020 ideal-gas-integral] Translation pp. 301-304: "This gas shall consist of a single molecule"; the partition is a piston, and expansion is isothermal. The bath, measurement and conditional piston stroke are explicit. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “One measured bit, converted into kT·ln2 of work, drawn from a single heat reservoir. That is precisely the forbidden thing.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [021 single-reservoir-work] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “The work you can extract is exactly kT·H(f), where H(f) = −f·ln f − (1−f)·ln(1−f) is the Shannon entropy of the measurement [...] the very same quantity that, in bits, measures how much you learned by looking.” | https://people.math.harvard.edu/~ctm/home/text/others/shannon/entropy/entropy.pdf; https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.19/notes/computation/Szilard-1929.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [022 shannon-work] Shannon p. 11: "H is a maximum and equal to logn when all the pi are equal". Combined with the Szilard conditional-work integral, this gives expected work kT H(f), not work attributed to Shannon alone.
- CONFIRMED | “Push the partition to the wall and you learn almost nothing (the molecule is nearly always on the big side) and win almost nothing.” | https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.19/notes/computation/Szilard-1929.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [023 wall-low-information] Translation pp. 301-304: "This gas shall consist of a single molecule"; the partition is a piston, and expansion is isothermal. The bath, measurement and conditional piston stroke are explicit. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “The maximum sits dead centre, at a fair bit, f = 1/2: one full bit of information, W = kT·ln2.” | https://people.math.harvard.edu/~ctm/home/text/others/shannon/entropy/entropy.pdf; https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.19/notes/computation/Szilard-1929.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [024 fair-bit-maximum] Shannon p. 11: "H is a maximum and equal to logn when all the pi are equal". Combined with the Szilard conditional-work integral, this gives expected work kT H(f), not work attributed to Shannon alone. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “It is the fuel, and you can read the exchange rate straight off the curve: one bit buys kT·ln2 of work.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [025 information-exchange] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “So the demon works.” | https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.19/notes/computation/Szilard-1929.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [026 demon-works] In context this is the demonstrated Szilard expansion stroke, not a completed perpetual-motion cycle. Szilard p. 303 describes the molecule doing work; the reset step is then charged later.
- CONFIRMED | “Which means the Second Law is saved, if it is saved at all, somewhere we have not yet looked [...] in the part of the cycle we keep forgetting to count.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [028 forgotten-cycle] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “To run the engine again, the demon must take its next measurement [...] but its memory already holds the last answer. Before it can write "left or right?" afresh, it has to clear the old bit. It has to forget.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [030 memory-must-clear] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “And in 1961 Rolf Landauer proved that forgetting is the one operation that cannot be free.” | https://www.dna.caltech.edu/courses/cs191/paperscs191/landauer1961.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [031 landauer1961-proved] Landauer p. 187: "Consider a statistical ensemble of bits in thermal equilibrium"; reset halves the ensemble states and transfers the entropy. The source record incorrectly locates this passage on p. 186.
- CONFIRMED | “A one-bit memory has two possibilities, 0 and 1.” | https://www.dna.caltech.edu/courses/cs191/paperscs191/landauer1961.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [032 binary-memory] Landauer p. 187: "Consider a statistical ensemble of bits in thermal equilibrium"; reset halves the ensemble states and transfers the entropy. The source record incorrectly locates this passage on p. 186.
- CONFIRMED | “Erasing means forcing it to a known value [...] say 0 [...] no matter where it started.” | https://www.dna.caltech.edu/courses/cs191/paperscs191/landauer1961.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [033 erasure-definition] Landauer p. 187: "Consider a statistical ensemble of bits in thermal equilibrium"; reset halves the ensemble states and transfers the entropy. The source record incorrectly locates this passage on p. 186.
- CONFIRMED | “Two possible states collapse into one: the memory's phase space halves, its entropy falls by k·ln2.” | https://www.dna.caltech.edu/courses/cs191/paperscs191/landauer1961.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [034 phase-space-halves] Landauer p. 187: "Consider a statistical ensemble of bits in thermal equilibrium"; reset halves the ensemble states and transfers the entropy. The source record incorrectly locates this passage on p. 186.
- CONFIRMED | “Entropy cannot simply vanish, so by the Second Law itself an equal amount must appear in the surroundings as heat: at least kT·ln2 dumped into the environment, per bit erased.” | https://www.dna.caltech.edu/courses/cs191/paperscs191/landauer1961.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [035 entropy-heat-bound] Landauer p. 187: "Consider a statistical ensemble of bits in thermal equilibrium"; reset halves the ensemble states and transfers the entropy. The source record incorrectly locates this passage on p. 186.
- CONFIRMED | “This is Landauer's principle, and its slogan is that information is physical [...] a logical act of forgetting has an irreducible thermodynamic price.” | https://api.crossref.org/works/10.1063%2F1.881299 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [036 information-physical-slogan] Publisher metadata: "Information is Physical", author "Rolf" "Landauer", 1991. The physical erasure argument is independently present in Landauer 1961.
- CONFIRMED | “This is not just theory: in 2012 Bérut and colleagues built exactly this memory [...] a micron-sized glass bead in a double laser-trap well [...] erased it, and measured the heat creeping down to the kT·ln2 bound.” | https://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~verga/pdfs/Berut-2012yq.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [040 berut2012-experiment] Bérut et al., pp. 187-189: "single colloidal particle trapped in a modulated double-well potential"; the measured quantity is mean heat over repeated erasure cycles.
- CONFIRMED | “The smallest possible act of forgetting has a measured price tag, and at room temperature it is 2.871 zeptojoules.” | git show f5e5f84f34:research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [041 room-temperature-price] Recreated from the published, byte-identical file: node research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs, exit 0, "ALL 39 checks PASS". The stated calculation is implemented in the pinned verifier.
- CONFIRMED | “Now put the two halves together, which is what Charles Bennett did in 1982 and what finally laid the demon to rest.” | https://www.cc.gatech.edu/computing/nano/documents/Bennett%20-%20The%20Thermodynamics%20Of%20Computation.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [042 bennett1982-resolution] Bennett 1982 p. 906, independently OCRed and visually read: "the essential irreversible step" is "erasing the record of one measurement to make room for the next". The supplied p. 905 excerpt alone concerns computers, not the demon resolution.
- CONFIRMED | “The measurement itself, Bennett showed, can in principle be done reversibly [...] at no thermodynamic cost.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [043 reversible-measurement] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “So the demon's +kT·ln2 of winnings looks like pure profit.” | https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.19/notes/computation/Szilard-1929.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [044 engine-profit] Translation pp. 301-304: "This gas shall consist of a single molecule"; the partition is a piston, and expansion is isothermal. The bath, measurement and conditional piston stroke are explicit. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “But the cycle is not closed until the demon is ready to measure again, and that means erasing the bit it just used [...] paying Landauer's ≥ kT·ln2.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [045 cycle-reset-bill] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “The lunch and the bill are the same size.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [046 equal-lunch-bill] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “Per full cycle, the demon nets zero, or less.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [047 cycle-net-nonpositive] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “The Second Law was never in danger; we had just forgotten to charge the demon for forgetting.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [048 second-law-never-danger] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “The cost of forgetting is the one load-bearing wall; remove it and the whole Second Law collapses.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [052 only-load-bearing-wall] Read as the explicit conditional of this illustrated memory cycle: if its erasure cost were zero, its net work would be positive. The supplied Earman-Norton excerpt is not evidence for the stronger idea that all physical exorcisms use erasure. Bennett supports this cycle; other demons are addressed at entries 49 and 189.
- CONFIRMED | “The demon is not defeated by being unable to measure. It is defeated by being unable to remember forever [...] and by being unable to forget for free.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [053 demon-defeat] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “The state-counting is sound, and the Bérut experiment and its successors measured the floor directly.” | https://arxiv.org/abs/1408.5089 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [057 state-counting-successors] Jun, Gavrilov and Bechhoefer, 2014: "Our experiment uses a colloidal particle" in a feedback trap. The abstract confirms the bound and explicitly distinguishes individual cycles from the average.
- CONFIRMED | “No one expects to build the demon. On that, everyone agrees.” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-15-04432/article_deploy/entropy-15-04432.pdf; https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-16-02278/article_deploy/entropy-16-02278.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [058 consensus-no-demon] The two camps named on the page both reject a reliable Maxwell demon. Norton gives an impossibility argument; Ladyman and Robertson use the Second Law. Read "everyone" as those camps, not a census of every person.
- CONFIRMED | “What is open is subtler, and it is a question in the philosophy of physics, not the lab.” | https://research.engineering.nyu.edu/~jbain/tcs_seminar/Readings/99Earman%26Norton_ExorcistXIV_II.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [059 philosophical-open-question] Abstract contrasts "already governed by the Second Law" with the alternative where no information-cost supposition can save it. This supports the description of the dilemma, not a universal erasure-only exorcism.
- CONFIRMED | “John Earman and John Norton argued (1998–99) that the standard erasure-based exorcism faces a dilemma: if you have already assumed the demon obeys the Second Law, you do not need the erasure argument; and if you have not, the erasure argument is not sufficient to force it.” | https://research.engineering.nyu.edu/~jbain/tcs_seminar/Readings/99Earman%26Norton_ExorcistXIV_II.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [060 earman-norton-dilemma] Abstract contrasts "already governed by the Second Law" with the alternative where no information-cost supposition can save it. This supports the description of the dilemma, not a universal erasure-only exorcism.
- CONFIRMED | “Norton went further (2005, 2013): the usual proofs of Landauer's principle, he contends, are not rigorous [...] they quietly assume the very thing they set out to establish, and lean on idealisations that thermal fluctuations destroy.” | https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/papers/Eaters_final.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [061 norton-criticism] Norton 2005: "General arguments that purport to establish the unconditional validity of the law" "fail". Read with Norton 2013 for the separate thermal-fluctuation criticism.
- CONFIRMED | “Ladyman, Presnell, Short and Groisman (2007) gave a fresh derivation of Landauer's principle from the bare Kelvin statement of the Second Law,” | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/2689/1/irreversibility%28rev2%29.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [064 ladyman2007-derivation] Preprint pp. 1-3: "assuming the phenomenological validity of the Kelvin statement of the second law". Crossref independently confirms the 2007 journal publication, 38, 58-79; the preprint itself is dated 2006.
- CONFIRMED | “Ladyman and Robertson (2014) answered the circularity charge head-on” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-16-02278/article_deploy/entropy-16-02278.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [065 ladyman2014-answer] Ladyman and Robertson 2014: "Norton argued that the LPSG proof is unsound and Ladyman and Robertson defended it." Read the discussion of the no-go result and controlled operations.
- CONFIRMED | “Bennett (2003) defended the picture too.” | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [066 bennett2003-defense] Bennett abstract: "Here I attempt to refute some of the arguments against Landauer's principle". Journal reference is "vol. 34 pp. 501-510 (2003)".
- CONFIRMED | “the engine runs, the bound is real and measured, and the question of why the demon ultimately fails is a genuine, unfinished dispute between two camps of careful people.” | https://doi.org/10.31389/pop.81 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [068 unfinished-dispute] Joint Myrvold-Norton paper, published 17 November 2023: "different background assumptions" remain central. It clarifies compatibility of two analyses, so it supports continued discussion rather than two mutually refuting results.
- CONFIRMED | “Of all the things a mind can do [...] observe, deduce, decide [...] the only one with a guaranteed, irreducible thermodynamic cost is the humblest: letting go of what it knew.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [071 only-mind-cost] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “k = 1.380649×10⁻²³ J/K” | https://physics.nist.gov/cgi-bin/cuu/Value?k | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [080 boltzmann-exact] NIST: "1.380 649 x 10-23 J K-1" and "Standard uncertainty (exact)".
- CONFIRMED | “one bit ↔ kT·ln2” | git show f5e5f84f34:research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [087 bit-energy] Recreated from the published, byte-identical file: node research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs, exit 0, "ALL 39 checks PASS". The stated calculation is implemented in the pinned verifier. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “= 2.871 zJ (300 K)” | git show f5e5f84f34:research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [088 energy-zj] Recreated from the published, byte-identical file: node research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs, exit 0, "ALL 39 checks PASS". The stated calculation is implemented in the pinned verifier. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “= 17.92 meV = 1.729 kJ/mol” | git show f5e5f84f34:research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [089 energy-mev] Recreated from the published, byte-identical file: node research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs, exit 0, "ALL 39 checks PASS". The stated calculation is implemented in the pinned verifier. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “= 1.729 kJ/mol” | git show f5e5f84f34:research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [090 energy-mol] Recreated from the published, byte-identical file: node research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs, exit 0, "ALL 39 checks PASS". The stated calculation is implemented in the pinned verifier. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “Szilard win +kT·ln2” | git show f5e5f84f34:research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [091 win-label] Recreated from the published, byte-identical file: node research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs, exit 0, "ALL 39 checks PASS". The stated calculation is implemented in the pinned verifier. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “erase ≥ kT·ln2” | git show f5e5f84f34:research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [092 erase-label] Recreated from the published, byte-identical file: node research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs, exit 0, "ALL 39 checks PASS". The stated calculation is implemented in the pinned verifier. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “J. C. Maxwell, Theory of Heat (Longmans, Green & Co., 1871), §"Limitation of the Second Law" [...] the demon (first sketched in his 11 Dec 1867 letter to P. G. Tait).” | https://www.huntington.org/collections/lib-709866; https://ftp.math.utah.edu/pub/bibnet/authors/c/clerk-maxwell-james.html; https://webserver.lemoyne.edu/giunta/demon.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [095 ref-maxwell] The supplied transcription is explicitly the 1872 Appleton edition, so it does not itself establish the quoted 1871 imprint. Huntington catalogue gives "Publication date 1871"; the University of Utah bibliography identifies Longmans, Green, and Co. for the 1871 edition. The 1867 letter was independently read on p. 438 of Earman-Norton.
- CONFIRMED | “W. Thomson (Lord Kelvin), "Kinetic Theory of the Dissipation of Energy," Nature 9 (1874) 441–444 [...] coins "demon."” | https://zapatopi.net/kelvin/papers/kinetic_theory.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [096 ref-kelvin] Heading: "Nature, April 9, 1874, pp. 441-444." Text uses "Maxwell's "intelligent demons""; Earman and Norton p. 438 additionally identify Thomson as the namer. Publisher metadata independently matches authors, title, year 1874, volume 9, pages 441-444.
- CONFIRMED | “L. Szilárd, "Über die Entropieverminderung in einem thermodynamischen System bei Eingriffen intelligenter Wesen," Zeitschrift für Physik 53 (1929) 840–856 [...] the single-molecule engine; information ↔ entropy.” | https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.19/notes/computation/Szilard-1929.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [097 ref-szilard] Translation pp. 301-304: "This gas shall consist of a single molecule"; the partition is a piston, and expansion is isothermal. The bath, measurement and conditional piston stroke are explicit. Publisher metadata independently matches authors, title, year 1929, volume 53, pages 840-856.
- CONFIRMED | “R. Landauer, "Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing Process," IBM J. Res. Dev. 5 (1961) 183–191 [...] the kT·ln2 cost of erasure.” | https://www.dna.caltech.edu/courses/cs191/paperscs191/landauer1961.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [098 ref-landauer] Landauer p. 187: "Consider a statistical ensemble of bits in thermal equilibrium"; reset halves the ensemble states and transfers the entropy. The source record incorrectly locates this passage on p. 186. Publisher metadata independently matches authors, title, year 1961, volume 5, pages 183-191.
- CONFIRMED | “C. H. Bennett, "The Thermodynamics of Computation [...] a Review," Int. J. Theor. Phys. 21 (1982) 905–940 [...] measurement reversible, erasure pays the debt.” | https://www.cc.gatech.edu/computing/nano/documents/Bennett%20-%20The%20Thermodynamics%20Of%20Computation.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [099 ref-bennett1982] Bennett 1982 p. 906, independently OCRed and visually read: "the essential irreversible step" is "erasing the record of one measurement to make room for the next". The supplied p. 905 excerpt alone concerns computers, not the demon resolution. Publisher metadata independently matches authors, title, year 1982, volume 21, pages 905-940.
- CONFIRMED | “A. Bérut, A. Arakelyan, A. Petrosyan, S. Ciliberto, R. Dillenschneider, E. Lutz, "Experimental verification of Landauer's principle…," Nature 483 (2012) 187–189 [...] the floor, measured (colloidal bead, double-well optical trap).” | https://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~verga/pdfs/Berut-2012yq.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [100 ref-berut] Bérut et al., pp. 187-189: "single colloidal particle trapped in a modulated double-well potential"; the measured quantity is mean heat over repeated erasure cycles. Publisher metadata independently matches authors, title, year 2012, volume 483, pages 187-189.
- CONFIRMED | “J. Earman & J. D. Norton, "Exorcist XIV: The Wrath of Maxwell's Demon," Stud. Hist. Phil. Mod. Phys. 29 (1998) 435–471 & 30 (1999) 1–40 [...] the "unnecessary-or-insufficient" dilemma.” | https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/homepage/cv.html#Exorcist | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [101 ref-earman1998] Author CV lists Part I "29(1998), pp.435-471" and Part II "30(1999), pp.1-40". Both original papers were also opened.
- CONFIRMED | “J. Earman & J. D. Norton, "Exorcist XIV: The Wrath of Maxwell's Demon," Stud. Hist. Phil. Mod. Phys. 29 (1998) 435–471 & 30 (1999) 1–40 [...] the "unnecessary-or-insufficient" dilemma.” | https://research.engineering.nyu.edu/~jbain/tcs_seminar/Readings/99Earman%26Norton_ExorcistXIV_II.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [102 ref-earman1999] Abstract contrasts "already governed by the Second Law" with the alternative where no information-cost supposition can save it. This supports the description of the dilemma, not a universal erasure-only exorcism. Publisher metadata independently matches authors, title, year 1999, volume 30, pages 1-40.
- CONFIRMED | “J. D. Norton, "Eaters of the Lotus," Stud. Hist. Phil. Mod. Phys. 36 (2005) 375–411” | https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/papers/Eaters_final.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [103 ref-norton2005] Norton 2005: "General arguments that purport to establish the unconditional validity of the law" "fail". Read with Norton 2013 for the separate thermal-fluctuation criticism. Publisher metadata independently matches authors, title, year 2005, volume 36, pages 375-411.
- CONFIRMED | “"All Shook Up," Entropy 15(10) (2013) 4432–4483 [...] the circularity charge and the fluctuation no-go.” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-15-04432/article_deploy/entropy-15-04432.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [104 ref-norton2013] PDF heading names "John D. Norton"; Crossref names "John Norton", 2013, 15(10), 4432-4483. The tool incorrectly treats the middle initial in "John D. Norton" as his first initial. This is a checker false positive, not an incorrect page author.
- CONFIRMED | “J. Ladyman, S. Presnell, A. J. Short, B. Groisman, Stud. Hist. Phil. Mod. Phys. 38 (2007) 58–79” | https://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/2689/1/irreversibility%28rev2%29.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [105 ref-ladyman2007] Preprint pp. 1-3: "assuming the phenomenological validity of the Kelvin statement of the second law". Crossref independently confirms the 2007 journal publication, 38, 58-79; the preprint itself is dated 2006. Publisher metadata independently matches authors, title, year 2007, volume 38, pages 58-79.
- CONFIRMED | “J. Ladyman & K. Robertson, "Going Round in Circles," Entropy 16 (2014) 2278–2290” | https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-16-02278/article_deploy/entropy-16-02278.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [106 ref-ladyman2014] Ladyman and Robertson 2014: "Norton argued that the LPSG proof is unsound and Ladyman and Robertson defended it." Read the discussion of the no-go result and controlled operations. Publisher metadata independently matches authors, title, year 2014, volume 16, pages 2278-2290.
- CONFIRMED | “C. H. Bennett, Stud. Hist. Phil. Mod. Phys. 34 (2003) 501–510” | https://arxiv.org/abs/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [107 ref-bennett2003] Bennett abstract: "Here I attempt to refute some of the arguments against Landauer's principle". Journal reference is "vol. 34 pp. 501-510 (2003)". Publisher metadata independently matches authors, title, year 2003, volume 34, pages 501-510.
- CONFIRMED | “the debate continues (Myrvold & Norton, 2023).” | https://doi.org/10.31389/pop.81 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [108 ref-2023] Joint Myrvold-Norton paper, published 17 November 2023: "different background assumptions" remain central. It clarifies compatibility of two analyses, so it supports continued discussion rather than two mutually refuting results.
- CONFIRMED | “Maxwell imagined a demon that sorts molecules and quietly breaks the Second Law of thermodynamics, drawing endless work from a single warm room.” | https://webserver.lemoyne.edu/giunta/demon.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [109 fm-dek-1] Maxwell: "without expenditure of work" and "raise the temperature of B and lower that of A". This is the stipulated thought experiment, not an operating device.
- CONFIRMED | “The flaw, found by Szilard, Landauer and Bennett, is in the demon's head: thinking is free and measuring is free, but forgetting is not.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [111 fm-dek-3] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “Erasing one bit of memory costs at least kT·ln2 of heat, and that is exactly the work the demon would have stolen.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [112 fm-dek-4] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “And it keeps open what is genuinely open: the live Earman–Norton dispute over whether Landauer's principle is really what exorcises the demon, with both camps named.” | https://doi.org/10.31389/pop.81 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [116 fm-dek-8] Joint Myrvold-Norton paper, published 17 November 2023: "different background assumptions" remain central. It clarifies compatibility of two analyses, so it supports continued discussion rather than two mutually refuting results.
- CONFIRMED | “The flaw is in its memory: erasing one bit costs at least kT·ln2 of heat, exactly the work the demon would have stolen.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [118 fm-plain-2] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “Parrondo's paradox looks like work coming from nothing [...] two losing games averaging into a winner [...] until you find the hidden resource (the switching, the correlation through shared capital).” | https://arxiv.org/abs/cond-mat/0003386 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [120 related-parrondo] Parrondo, Harmer and Abbott: "two losing games can yield, when combined, a paradoxical tendency to win" and rules depending on "the current capital of the player". The layer concerns that capital-dependent version.
- CONFIRMED | “Maxwell's demon looks like work coming from nothing [...] heat sorted into order with a frictionless door [...] until you find the hidden resource (the demon's memory, and the kT·ln2 it must pay to clear it).” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [121 related-maxwell] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “This page: a demon cannot beat the Second Law because the one operation it cannot make free is erasure [...] a cost that is literally thermodynamic, kT·ln2 per forgotten bit.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [124 related-erasure-cost] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “In an 1867 letter to P. G. Tait, Maxwell imagined a "finite being" small enough to see individual molecules, working a frictionless trapdoor between two halves of a gas-filled box: it lets fast molecules drift one way, slow ones the other, and with no work done a temperature difference appears out of equilibrium.” | https://sites.pitt.edu/~jdnorton/papers/ExorcistXIV/Exorcist1.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [129 md-letter] p. 438, independently OCRed and read: "a letter of 11 December 1867 from Maxwell to Tait" and "Now conceive a finite being".
- CONFIRMED | “Kelvin named the creature the *demon* (1874).” | https://zapatopi.net/kelvin/papers/kinetic_theory.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [130 md-kelvin-date] Heading: "Nature, April 9, 1874, pp. 441-444." Text uses "Maxwell's "intelligent demons""; Earman and Norton p. 438 additionally identify Thomson as the namer.
- CONFIRMED | “Leó Szilárd reduced the demon to one molecule and one bit. Insert a partition, measure which side the molecule is on, and let it push a piston as the gas expands isothermally back to full volume.” | https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.19/notes/computation/Szilard-1929.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [133 md-szilard-engine] Translation pp. 301-304: "This gas shall consist of a single molecule"; the partition is a piston, and expansion is isothermal. The bath, measurement and conditional piston stroke are explicit.
- CONFIRMED | “The work extracted is exactly `W = kT·H(f)`, where `H(f)` is the Shannon entropy of the measurement outcome [...] peaking at `kT·ln2` for a fair (`f = 1/2`) bit.” | https://people.math.harvard.edu/~ctm/home/text/others/shannon/entropy/entropy.pdf; https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.19/notes/computation/Szilard-1929.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [134 md-szilard-work] Shannon p. 11: "H is a maximum and equal to logn when all the pi are equal". Combined with the Szilard conditional-work integral, this gives expected work kT H(f), not work attributed to Shannon alone. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “One measured bit is worth `kT·ln2` of work, drawn from a single heat bath.” | https://fab.cba.mit.edu/classes/862.19/notes/computation/Szilard-1929.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [135 md-bit-work] Translation pp. 301-304: "This gas shall consist of a single molecule"; the partition is a piston, and expansion is isothermal. The bath, measurement and conditional piston stroke are explicit. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “The bound was measured directly by Bérut et al. (2012) with a colloidal bead in an optical double-well trap.” | https://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~verga/pdfs/Berut-2012yq.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [139 md-berut] Bérut et al., pp. 187-189: "single colloidal particle trapped in a modulated double-well potential"; the measured quantity is mean heat over repeated erasure cycles.
- CONFIRMED | “Measurement can in principle be reversible (free), but the demon must *erase* its memory to begin the next cycle [...] paying Landauer's `≥ kT·ln2`, exactly the `kT·ln2` the engine won. The ledger nets to zero or less.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [140 md-bennett-resolution] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “The *bound* is settled and measured.” | https://www.cpt.univ-mrs.fr/~verga/pdfs/Berut-2012yq.pdf | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [142 md-bound-settled] Bérut et al., pp. 187-189: "single colloidal particle trapped in a modulated double-well potential"; the measured quantity is mean heat over repeated erasure cycles.
- CONFIRMED | “Whether *Landauer's principle* is what truly exorcises the demon is a live dispute in the philosophy of physics: Earman & Norton's "unnecessary-or-insufficient" dilemma (1998–99) and Norton's circularity charge and fluctuation no-go (2005, 2013) against the derivations defended by Ladyman, Presnell, Short & Groisman (2007), Ladyman & Robertson (2014), and Bennett (2003) [...] still being argued in 2023.” | https://doi.org/10.31389/pop.81; https://mdpi-res.com/d_attachment/entropy/entropy-15-04432/article_deploy/entropy-15-04432.pdf; https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [143 md-dispute] Cross-checked the full historical list against the individual primary sources, not just the supplied 2023 excerpt. The 2023 item is a joint clarification; the earlier disputes and dates are documented.
- CONFIRMED | “the only operation with a guaranteed, irreducible thermodynamic price is the humblest one, letting go of what it knew.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [147 md-only-operation] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “Maxwell imagined a demon that sorts molecules and breaks the Second Law of thermodynamics.” | https://webserver.lemoyne.edu/giunta/demon.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [149 meta-1-1] Maxwell: "without expenditure of work" and "raise the temperature of B and lower that of A". This is the stipulated thought experiment, not an operating device.
- CONFIRMED | “The Szilard engine makes the free lunch concrete: one molecule, one measured bit, kT·ln2 of work per cycle from a single heat bath.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [150 meta-1-2] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “The catch, found by Landauer and Bennett, is that measuring is free but forgetting is not: erasing one bit costs at least kT·ln2 of heat, exactly the lunch the demon stole.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [151 meta-1-3] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “Measuring is free; forgetting is the only sin.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [154 meta-2-2] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “A demon that sorts molecules would break the Second Law.” | https://webserver.lemoyne.edu/giunta/demon.html | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [156 meta-3-1] Maxwell: "without expenditure of work" and "raise the temperature of B and lower that of A". This is the stipulated thought experiment, not an operating device.
- CONFIRMED | “The fix: measuring is free, but erasing a bit costs kT·ln2 of heat, exactly the lunch.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [157 meta-3-2] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat. Independent arithmetic: integral dV/V = ln(Vfinal/Vinitial); averaging the two outcomes gives H(f). At 300 K, kT ln2 = 2.870978885e-21 J = 17.91924076 meV and R T ln2 = 1.728943896 kJ/mol.
- CONFIRMED | “The bit the engine cashes in is the bit the demon must erase, and erasing it pays back at least as much.” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [190 live-erasing-repays] Bennett: "information processing and acquisition have no intrinsic, irreducible thermodynamic cost"; information destruction compensates the demon. Read as the ideal cyclic, finite-memory account, not a claim that laboratory operations dissipate no heat.
- CONFIRMED | “Earman & Norton's "unnecessary-or-insufficient" dilemma (1998–99)” | https://arxiv.org/pdf/physics/0210005 | Inherited N2 confirmation at f5e5f84f34: [191 dilemma-quoted-label] A descriptive label for the dilemma, not a verbatim phrase in the supplied Earman-Norton excerpt. Bennett 2003 p. 1 calls it "either unnecessary or insufficient". The record should mark this as a paraphrase or supply that passage instead of treating the hyphenated label as an exact quotation.

## Findings

- [fixed] X1 (MINOR, unqualified-ideal-mechanics): HTML introduction and plain metadata; Markdown dek, plain description, body and incommensurable note now limit the account to its stipulated ideal mechanism. MINOR, no separate page notice.
- [fixed] X2 (WRONG, reset-well-reversed): HTML erasure description and canvas accessibility text now say left well, well 0, matching the drawing; the small residual occupancy is acknowledged. One correction line is mirrored in Markdown for X2 and X12.
- [fixed] X3 (WRONG, universal-free-erasure-assumption): HTML ledger introduction and runtime verdict, plus Markdown body and dek, now limit free erasure to the illustrated cycle with a memory. One mirrored correction line covers X3, X19 and X24-X26.
- [fixed] X4 (MINOR, unqualified-erasure-cost): HTML body, metadata and readout labels, Markdown body/frontmatter/related notes, and layer source notes now specify the mean cost and initially unbiased, complete-reset scope where required. X4 is MINOR with no separate notice; the one mirrored notice covers WRONG X9 and X21.
- [fixed] X6 (MINOR, norton-bound-acceptance): HTML now reports acceptance of restricted erasure results and rejection of a general proof. MINOR, no page notice.
- [fixed] X7 (MINOR, joint-paper-as-exchange): HTML discussion and source note, Markdown discussion, and research source note now identify the joint 2023 compatibility clarification. MINOR, no page notice or Updated line.
- [fixed] X8 (WRONG, undisputed-forgetting-moral): HTML and Markdown closing morals are attributed to Landauer-Bennett and state Norton's disagreement. One mirrored correction line records the false undisputed claim.
- [fixed] X9 (WRONG, unqualified-erasure-cost): HTML body, metadata and readout labels, Markdown body/frontmatter/related notes, and layer source notes now specify the mean cost and initially unbiased, complete-reset scope where required. X4 is MINOR with no separate notice; the one mirrored notice covers WRONG X9 and X21.
- [fixed] X10 (MINOR, all-figures-recomputed-live): HTML check paragraph, structured description and source comment, Markdown dek/body, and verifier comments now separate live deterministic readouts from offline quadrature, stochastic simulation and molar conversion. MINOR, no page notice.
- [fixed] X11 (MINOR, finite-barrier-quasistatic-equality): HTML check and Markdown body distinguish finite ramp free energy from full-cycle restoration and residual entropy. Plot/readout references use ln2 itself; verifier assertions are scoped to tested durations, with a restoration/entropy identity replacing an unconditional assertion. The downloadable verifier is synchronized. MINOR, no page notice.
- [fixed] X12 (WRONG, reset-well-reversed): HTML erasure description and canvas accessibility text now say left well, well 0, matching the drawing; the small residual occupancy is acknowledged. One correction line is mirrored in Markdown for X2 and X12.
- [fixed] X13 (MINOR, all-figures-recomputed-live): HTML check paragraph, structured description and source comment, Markdown dek/body, and verifier comments now separate live deterministic readouts from offline quadrature, stochastic simulation and molar conversion. MINOR, no page notice.
- [fixed] X14 (MINOR, unqualified-ideal-mechanics): HTML introduction and plain metadata; Markdown dek, plain description, body and incommensurable note now limit the account to its stipulated ideal mechanism. MINOR, no separate page notice.
- [open note:3d6ac5] X15 (WRONG, parrondo-control-reversed): This layer's Markdown relation note and mirrored correction line correctly say Parrondo's capital-blind control removes the winning effect while free erasure makes this ledger positive. The old reversed comparison remains without an annotation in public/strata/there-here/index.html:250 and research/lineage-edge-grammar/page.json:1. Preserve that corpus quotation and add an adjacent correction through research/lineage-edge-grammar/copy-corrections.mjs; those other-layer files are outside this worker's edit scope. Board note requested in repair-report.md.
- [open note:be6cbe] X16 (WRONG, determinism-implies-irreducibility): This layer's related note and mirrored correction line distinguish determinism from irreducibility and absence of a known shortcut. The old universal claim remains without an annotation in public/strata/there-here/index.html:250 and research/lineage-edge-grammar/page.json:1, despite the Rule 90 shortcut and Wolfram p. 738's reducible examples. Preserve that corpus quotation and add an adjacent correction through research/lineage-edge-grammar/copy-corrections.mjs; those other-layer files are outside this worker's edit scope. Board note requested in repair-report.md.
- [open note:98c76e] X17 (MINOR, unqualified-ideal-mechanics): This layer's incommensurable relation note now limits successful sorting to the stipulated ideal mechanism and the memory explanation to the Landauer-Bennett account. The unrestricted mechanics and exclusive-memory wording remains without a clarification in public/strata/there-here/index.html:250 and research/lineage-edge-grammar/page.json:1. Preserve that corpus quotation and add an adjacent clarification through COPY_CLARIFICATIONS in research/lineage-edge-grammar/copy-corrections.mjs; those other-layer files are outside this worker's edit scope. MINOR, no separate page correction. Board note requested in repair-report.md.
- [fixed] X18 (MINOR, unqualified-ideal-mechanics): HTML introduction and plain metadata; Markdown dek, plain description, body and incommensurable note now limit the account to its stipulated ideal mechanism. MINOR, no separate page notice.
- [fixed] X19 (WRONG, universal-free-erasure-assumption): HTML ledger introduction and runtime verdict, plus Markdown body and dek, now limit free erasure to the illustrated cycle with a memory. One mirrored correction line covers X3, X19 and X24-X26.
- [fixed] X20 (MINOR, all-figures-recomputed-live): HTML check paragraph, structured description and source comment, Markdown dek/body, and verifier comments now separate live deterministic readouts from offline quadrature, stochastic simulation and molar conversion. MINOR, no page notice.
- [fixed] X21 (WRONG, unqualified-erasure-cost): HTML body, metadata and readout labels, Markdown body/frontmatter/related notes, and layer source notes now specify the mean cost and initially unbiased, complete-reset scope where required. X4 is MINOR with no separate notice; the one mirrored notice covers WRONG X9 and X21.
- [fixed] X22 (WRONG, biased-bit-erasure-floor): JSON-LD now uses ideal mean erasure floor kT H(f), with kT ln2 only at f=1/2, and says the master-equation instrument starts unbiased. Matching explanatory scope is present in body and verifier comments. One mirrored correction line records the metadata error.
- [fixed] X23 (MINOR, all-figures-recomputed-live): HTML check paragraph, structured description and source comment, Markdown dek/body, and verifier comments now separate live deterministic readouts from offline quadrature, stochastic simulation and molar conversion. MINOR, no page notice.
- [fixed] X24 (WRONG, universal-free-erasure-assumption): HTML ledger introduction and runtime verdict, plus Markdown body and dek, now limit free erasure to the illustrated cycle with a memory. One mirrored correction line covers X3, X19 and X24-X26.
- [fixed] X25 (WRONG, universal-free-erasure-assumption): HTML ledger introduction and runtime verdict, plus Markdown body and dek, now limit free erasure to the illustrated cycle with a memory. One mirrored correction line covers X3, X19 and X24-X26.
- [fixed] X26 (WRONG, universal-free-erasure-assumption): HTML ledger introduction and runtime verdict, plus Markdown body and dek, now limit free erasure to the illustrated cycle with a memory. One mirrored correction line covers X3, X19 and X24-X26.
- [fixed] X27 (MINOR, near-fair-verdict): HTML branch now uses f===0.5. The layer browser verifier exercises 0.49, 0.50 and 0.51 as well as biased ledger and retained-well behavior. MINOR, no page notice.

## Evidence and limits

The new evidence reads used Norton (2013), pp. 4434, 4439-4440, 4444, 4446 and 4480; Norton (2005), p. 375; Berut et al. (2012), pp. 187-188; the joint Myrvold-Norton (2023) abstract and body; Wolfram, A New Kind of Science, p. 738; pinned related-layer Markdown; and this layer's actual drawing, ledger, erasure and verifier code. The correction date is the requested assay date, 2026-10-14, including JSON-LD dateModified. No Updated line was needed.

The legacy card-generation source also carries the qualified fair-bit, mean-cost account. It was not executed. The current share image was inspected and contains a title and opening synopsis, not the corrected erasure sentences. No film, audio or image was rendered or re-encoded. This repair did not edit another layer or any shared file; the fixer's pre-existing published-verifier change in public/checks/research/maxwell-demon/verify.mjs is left for landing.

Detailed fixer outcomes and edits are in research/assay-line/queue-1014c/the-price-of-forgetting/fix-report.md. The repair's evidence checks, unchanged dated lines, final dispositions, commands and three requested board notes are in research/assay-line/queue-1014c/the-price-of-forgetting/repair-report.md.