Maxwell’s Demon

Maxwell’s Demon is a motif which is constantly revisited, adding some confusion for me when deciphering the unfolding mystery of The Crying of Lot 49. Maxwell’s Demon is first introduced as the Nefastis machine, invented by a professor at UC Berkeley named John Nefastis.   Maxwell’s Demon basically relies on the concept of perpetual motion, which is said to defy the Second Law of Thermodynamics.  The “Demon” in the Nefastis machine sits in the box, mediating unrelated temperature molecules, sorting them into their respective canisters (or something like that).  More importantly, Maxwell’s Demon is used a few other times through the end of chapter 5.  The stories protaginist Oedipa,  at one point describes Pierce Inverarity, her ex-boyfriend who she is executing a very complicated will for and who the plot is centered around, as a Maxwell’s Demon connecting her to Jesus Arrabel, an old friend of Pierce’s.  I think that Pynchon is introducing Oedipa as her own respective Maxwell’s Demon.  Pynchon is using her as his own literary Demon to connect all these different, seemingly unrelated areas of the 60′s culture.