  Almost all processes -- highly correlated, weakly correlated, or correlated
not at all---exhibit statistical fluctuations. Often physical laws, such as the
Second Law of Thermodynamics, address only typical realizations -- as
highlighted by Shannon's asymptotic equipartition property and as entailed by
taking the thermodynamic limit of an infinite number of degrees of freedom.
Indeed, our interpretations of the functioning of macroscopic thermodynamic
cycles are so focused. Using a recently derived Second Law for information
processing, we show that different subsets of fluctuations lead to distinct
thermodynamic functioning in Maxwellian Demons. For example, while typical
realizations may operate as an engine -- converting thermal fluctuations to
useful work -- even "nearby" fluctuations (nontypical, but probable
realizations) behave differently, as Landauer erasers -- converting available
stored energy to dissipate stored information. One concludes that ascribing a
single, unique functional modality to a thermodynamic system, especially one on
the nanoscale, is at best misleading, likely masking an array of simultaneous,
parallel thermodynamic transformations. This alters how we conceive of cellular
processes, engineering design, and evolutionary adaptation.
