Bits vs Dynamics

Two Kinds of Systems

Left: Bits—Floating bits that interact locally, lose energy at every collision, and eventually settle. Each bit has a precise position you can measure without changing anything fundamental.

Right: Dynamics—A Lorenz attractor where every point affects every other point. The system never settles into a repeating pattern, yet it stays bounded. Structure without bits.

The Energy Difference

Digital computers pay kT ln 2 per bit, per clock cycle. That's Landauer's bound—the thermodynamic cost of erasing information.

Biological systems pay per dimension, deferred until commitment. A protein exploring 10,000 conformations doesn't pay energy for each one—it pays once, when it folds.

Try This

• Left panel: Click and drag bits to fling them around. Watch collisions dissipate energy as the system settles.
• Right panel: Click and hold to create a measurement constraint. Watch the attractor respond—not by stopping, but by reorganizing around your probe.
• Compare: The bits run out of energy. The attractor never does. Same fundamental physics, different organization.