From Noise to Information: A Thermodynamic Epistemology of Brandolini’s Asymmetry.

Abstract

Brandolini’s Law, observes that refuting nonsense requires much more effort than producing it. Despite its popularity, the principle has remained metaphorical. This paper provides a theoretical framework that formalizes Brandolini’s asymmetry using the thermodynamics of information. Misinformation is modeled as noise (high entropy), refutation as information (low entropy), and parsimony as the minimization of free energy. From this, a generalized Brandolini principle is derived.

This relation parallels Landauer’s principle, showing that reducing hypothesis spaces incurs energetic costs. The framework is extended with a network model of interacting news, in which clusters of false claims raise systemic energy through circular reinforcement, particularly in low-temperature environments such as epistemic bubbles. The analysis reveals that parsimony and Brandolini’s law are complementary: parsimony prescribes minimal free energy states, while Brandolini’s law describes the energetic penalty for restoring them.