# Development of a Thermodynamics of Human Cognition and Human Culture

arXiv: https://arxiv.org/abs/2212.12795 · HTML: https://mlsanity.com/paper/2212.12795/

## Key facts

- Cited by 2 papers in the map (data through 14 Oct 2026).
- Builds on 16 of its 73 references that are in the map.
- First posted on arXiv 24 Dec 2022.

## Builds on (most cited first, 16 of 16)

- [Quantum Structure in Cognition: Human Language as a Boson Gas of Entangled Words](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1909.06845/) (2019)
- [A Planck Radiation and Quantization Scheme for Human Cognition and Language](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2201.03306/) (2022)
- [Are Words the Quanta of Human Language? Extending the Domain of Quantum Cognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2110.04913/) (2021)
- [Quantum Entanglement in Concept Combinations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1302.3831/) (2013)
- [Towards a Quantum World Wide Web](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1703.06642/) (2017)
- [Quantum entanglement in physical and cognitive systems: a conceptual analysis and a general representation](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1903.09103/) (2019)
- [Human Perception as a Phenomenon of Quantization](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2208.03726/) (2022)
- [The Quantum Nature of Identity in Human Thought: Bose-Einstein Statistics for Conceptual Indistinguishability](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1410.6854/) (2014)
- [On the Foundations of the Brussels Operational-Realistic Approach to Cognition](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1512.08710/) (2015)
- [Modeling Human Decision-making: An Overview of the Brussels Quantum Approach](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1807.11036/) (2018)
- [Entanglement in Cognition violating Bell Inequalities Beyond Cirel'son's Bound](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2102.03847/) (2021)
- [Quantum Bose-Einstein Statistics for Indistinguishable Concepts in Human Language](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2103.15125/) (2021)
- [A New Fundamental Evidence of Non-Classical Structure in the Combination of Natural Concepts](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1505.04981/) (2015)
- [Quantum Entanglement in Corpuses of Documents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1810.12114/) (2018)
- [Quantum Structure in Cognition, Origins, Developments, Successes and Expectations](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1503.02994/) (2015)
- [Quantum-theoretic Modeling in Computer Science A complex Hilbert space model for entangled concepts in corpuses of documents](https://mlsanity.com/paper/1901.04299/) (2019)

## Built on by (most cited first, 2 of 2)

- [Entanglement as a Method to Reduce Uncertainty](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2302.05898/) (2023)
- [Identifying Quantum Mechanical Statistics in Italian Corpora](https://mlsanity.com/paper/2412.07919/) (2024)

## Abstract (arXiv)

Inspired by foundational studies in classical and quantum physics, and by information retrieval studies in quantum information theory, we prove that the notions of 'energy' and 'entropy' can be consistently introduced in human language and, more generally, in human culture. More explicitly, if energy is attributed to words according to their frequency of appearance in a text, then the ensuing energy levels are distributed non-classically, namely, they obey Bose-Einstein, rather than Maxwell-Boltzmann, statistics, as a consequence of the genuinely 'quantum indistinguishability' of the words that appear in the text. Secondly, the 'quantum entanglement' due to the way meaning is carried by a text reduces the (von Neumann) entropy of the words that appear in the text, a behaviour which cannot be explained within classical (thermodynamic or information) entropy. We claim here that this 'quantum-type behaviour is valid in general in human language', namely, any text is conceptually more concrete than the words composing it, which entails that the entropy of the overall text decreases. In addition, we provide examples taken from cognition, where quantization of energy appears in categorical perception, and from culture, where entities collaborate, thus 'entangle', to decrease overall entropy. We use these findings to propose the development of a new 'non-classical thermodynamic theory' for human cognition, which also covers broad parts of human culture and its artefacts and bridges concepts with quantum physics entities.