[EM] Thermodynamics

[Richard Lung]

Forest,

The efficiency of heat engines, in thermodynamics, offer an analogy with 
voting methods. Many other sciences do so, if voting method follows the 
Stevens structure of measurement, held in common by other branches of 
science. (I published a free e-book, about scientific models of election 
method, called: Science is Ethics as Electics.)

The basic principle, that thermodynamics and election method have in 
common is conservation, either of energy or information. (I believe 
scientists are currently translating energy terms into information terms.)

Common-place teachings of social choice theory, including the American 
Mathematics Society, usually make the claim that there is no perfect 
voting system. The equivalent statement in thermodynamics is that there 
is no perpetual motion machine.

As you point out, that does not preclude voting methods of different 
efficiency, the equivalent of heat engines of differing efficiency. The 
engines depend on efficient transfer of surplus heat, to work 
requirements, to keep the engine going. Similarly, transfers of vote 
surpluses, to elective quotas, keep the count procedure going. Heat 
forms a random distribution of motion. And votes typically form a random 
distribution of choice (subject to left or right skews).

Binomial STV would perhaps be rather more efficient than traditional 
STV, because it rationally conserves exclusion information. In rough 
analogy, a binomial STV “heat engine” is better “insulated,” to conserve 
heat. Thermodynamics is not just a dynamic of heat but also its 
insulation, in a closed system. Likewise, an election method is not just 
an active election, but also a closed system of exclusion.


Regards,

Richard Lung.

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