This essay highlights the scientific vision of John Archibald Wheeler, a giant of 20th century physics. His ideas provided the important insight that humanity may be in the very center of disclosure and manifestation of the evolution of our universe. This on the basis of scientific reasoning derived from quantum physics rather than simple anthropocentrism or scale chauvinism. Wheeler, the Joseph Henry Professor of Physics Emeritus at Princeton University, became 96. Over a long, productive scientific life, he was known for his drive to address big, overarching questions in physics, subjects which he liked to say merged with philosophical questions about the origin of matter, information and the universe. His interests ranged far and wide and were characterized by true fearlessness. Wheeler's work was not only in gravity and nuclear physics. In the 1950s Wheeler grew increasingly intrigued by the philosophical implications of quantum physics. According to Wheeler, there was no universe until the rise of consciousness to perceive it. In fact, Wheeler was one of the first prominent physicists seriously to propose that reality might not be a wholly physical phenomenon. In some sense, Wheeler suggested, reality grows out of the act of observation, and thus consciousness itself: it is participatory. He also stated that information is the most fundamental building block of reality, and that the universe should be seen as a self-synthesized information system: a self-excited circuit that is developing through a (closed loop) cycle. His cosmic variant of the delayed choice experiment led to the idea that human observers may not only determine the present, but also may influence the past. According to Wheeler, ultimate mutability is the central feature of physics, and the meaning of reality can only be established if there is a universal knowledge field, that transcend physical past, present and future.
This essay highlights the scientific vision of John Archibald Wheeler, a giant of 20th century physics. His ideas provided the important insight that humanity may be in the very center of disclosure and manifestation of the evolution of our universe. This on the basis of scientific reasoning derived from quantum physics rather than simple anthropocentrism or scale chauvinism. Wheeler, the Joseph Henry Professor of Physics Emeritus at Princeton University, became 96. Over a long, productive scientific life, he was known for his drive to address big, overarching questions in physics, subjects which he liked to say merged with philosophical questions about the origin of matter, information and the universe. His interests ranged far and wide and were characterized by true fearlessness. Wheeler's work was not only in gravity and nuclear physics. In the 1950s Wheeler grew increasingly intrigued by the philosophical implications of quantum physics. According to Wheeler, there was no universe until the rise of consciousness to perceive it. In fact, Wheeler was one of the first prominent physicists seriously to propose that reality might not be a wholly physical phenomenon. In some sense, Wheeler suggested, reality grows out of the act of observation, and thus consciousness itself: it is participatory. He also stated that information is the most fundamental building block of reality, and that the universe should be seen as a self-synthesized information system: a self-excited circuit that is developing through a (closed loop) cycle. His cosmic variant of the delayed choice experiment led to the idea that human observers may not only determine the present, but also may influence the past. According to Wheeler, ultimate mutability is the central feature of physics, and the meaning of reality can only be established if there is a universal knowledge field, that transcend physical past, present and future.
Abstract This paper will deal specifically with the concept of extending some of the contentions and theories of John Archibald Wheeler into a more complete description of reality, supported in part by physical experiments. The subjects that will be dealt with are well known from quantum theory, and now lately - Nick Bostrom's simulation theory, but will be seen through a new reinterpretation that connects seamlessly, prior positions of Wheeler into a self-consistent model that defines the nature of the physical universe through the convergence of information universe models and the Everett/Wheeler hypothesis. Hints will be given, as to how the reported desires of so-called Silicon Valley billionaires to leave the simulated universe, can be fulfilled using on-the-horizon technology to accomplish time travel through the manipulation of the information based fabric underpinning reality. In whole, the following will be major points discussed: 1. J.A. Wheeler posited that even the greatest mathematical equation in the universe is missing something, the principle by which can become real. He also said, no phenomenon is a phenomenon until is an observed phenomenon. 2. Wheeler developed his theory of it from bit, explaining that the physical world was based upon information at a fundamental level 3. Seth Lloyd, taking that thought further, said that the universe acts like a giant computer processing the information contained therein. 4. Nick Bostrom posited that, in fact, our universe is a computer simulation created by our post-human descendants in the distant future. 5. Philip K. Dick science fiction writer and visionary, in his 1977 public statements mentioned, that due to to events in the past being reprogrammed, things in the present could be changed so that an alternate universe splits off. 6. The universe is participatory, not just with humans, but everything else. *Just as various events cause a variety of phenomena, in the extreme cases, the universe responds in the extreme by producing alternate universes. This process resolves many of the issues related to quantum phenomena, parallel universes and time travel* 7. The detection of a simulated universe and escape therefrom is similar but not the same as doing so with an information universe. Escape from a simulated universe is impossible just as its detection may be. However, in this paper, a series of experiments will be presented that for the first time ever, establish such a possible detection as well as the method of ultimate escape from our information based universe.
This book project began as part of a special program, Science and Ultimate Reality , developed in honor of the ninetieth birthday of renowned theoretical physicist John Archibald Wheeler. Having long yearned for a comprehensive, integrated understanding of the nature of the universe, Wheeler has blended scientific rigor with an unusually adventurous approach to research in physics and cosmology over a career spanning almost 70 years. Known for investigating many of the most fundamental and challenging issues in physics, Wheeler has often worked at the frontiers of knowledge where science and philosophy meet, probing the deep nature of physical reality. His vision, shaped in part by his influential mentor Niels Bohr, still flourishes today amid ongoing research activities pursued by several generations of those he has influenced over the course of much of the twentieth century. With Wheeler as its inspiration, the Science and Ultimate Reality program was developed with a focus on the future. It brought together a carefully selected group of outstanding contemporary research leaders in the physics community to explore the frontiers of knowledge in areas of interest to Wheeler and to map out major domains and possibilities for far-reaching future exploration. Its two principal components – (1) this book and (2) a previously held symposium – were developed to take Wheeler's vision forward into a new century of expanding discovery.
Introduction First a word of thanks. When I first came across the papers of John Archibald Wheeler on the foundations of quantum mechanics, most of them reprinted in Wheeler and Zurek (1983), I could not believe what I read. Finally here was a colleague of worldwide reputation, given his many contributions to theoretical physics, who was not afraid to discuss openly the conceptual problems of quantum mechanics. The outstanding feature of Professor Wheeler's viewpoint is his realization that the implications of quantum mechanics are so far-reaching that they require a completely novel approach in our view of reality and in the way we see our role in the universe. This distinguishes him from many others who in one way or another tried to save pre-quantum viewpoints, particularly the obviously wrong notion of a reality independent of us. Particularly remarkable is Professor Wheeler's austerity in thinking. He tries to use as few concepts as possible and to build on this the whole of physics. A fascinating case in point is the title of one of his papers “Law without law,” the attempt to arrive at the laws of nature without assuming any law a priori. For me personally his work on fundamental issues in quantum mechanics has been particularly inspiring. The questions he raises are exceptionally far-reaching and some of his concepts in the foundations of physics are so radical that calling them revolutionary would not do them justice.
In his ‘Participatory Universe’, John Archibald Wheeler envisioned the universe as a kind of ‘self-excited circuit’, in which acts of observation on the earliest universe have “a part in bringing that universe into being”. This paper proposes that several anomalies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) may be explainable within a Participatory model. Specifically, peculiar alignments between the CMB and our own solar system appear, if confirmed, to challenge the Copernican Principle, while raising a temporal paradox given the vast interval between CMB photon decoupling and the present observer. It is proposed that this paradox could be mitigated if detector-based measurement itself ‘participates’ in the release histories of registered CMB photons. A strict Bohr and Wheeler-inspired notion of measurement as ‘irreversible amplification’ is employed, treated as distinct from environmental decoherence. Through this approach, the measured CMB is posited not as a static fossil background, but instead as a ‘reference frame’ always relative to an observer, which becomes skewed to their state and motion. It is explained how this Participatory frameshift could offer a unified means of approaching multiple measured cosmological tensions, including alignment anomalies, the low-power anomaly on the largest angular scales, and discrepancies between CMB and matter-based dipoles. The paper first reviews Wheeler’s Participatory model, before exploring broad conceptual implications encompassing the initial conditions of the universe, CMB anomalies, the genesis of physical reality, and the role of measurement itself, motivating a new overarching conceptual framework labelled the ‘Measureverse’. The proposal is exploratory, being intended to stimulate interdisciplinary dialogue.
In his ‘Participatory Universe’, John Archibald Wheeler envisioned the universe as a kind of ‘self-excited circuit’, in which acts of observation on the earliest universe have “a part in bringing that universe into being”. This paper proposes that several anomalies in the cosmic microwave background (CMB) may be explainable within a Participatory model. Specifically, peculiar alignments between the CMB and our own solar system appear, if confirmed, to challenge the Copernican Principle, while raising a temporal paradox given the vast interval between CMB photon decoupling and the present observer. It is proposed that this paradox could be mitigated if detector-based measurement itself ‘participates’ in the release histories of registered CMB photons. A strict Bohr and Wheeler-inspired notion of measurement as 'irreversible amplification’ is employed, treated as distinct from environmental decoherence. Through this approach, the measured CMB is posited not as a static fossil background, but instead as a ‘reference frame’ always relative to an observer, which becomes skewed to their state and motion. It is explained how this Participatory frameshift could offer a unified means of approaching multiple measured cosmological tensions, including alignment anomalies, the low-power anomaly on the largest angular scales, and discrepancies between CMB and matter-based dipoles. The paper first reviews Wheeler’s Participatory model, before exploring broad conceptual implications encompassing the initial conditions of the universe, CMB anomalies, the genesis of physical reality, and the role of measurement itself, motivating a new overarching conceptual framework labelled the ‘Measureverse’. The proposal is exploratory, being intended to stimulate interdisciplinary dialogue.
This paper introduces The Informative State (THIS) as the bridge between observer and system. This framework is designed to address the fundamental problem of how classical reality emerges from quantum mechanics. We propose that the physically irreducible coupling between an observer and a system, quantified by quantum mutual information across time, forms the bridge that explains the emergence of objective facts from subjective interactions. The participatory universe theory, also known as “It from Bit” and particularly associated with physicist John Wheeler, posits that acts of observation influence what is seen as real, suggesting that the universe remains indeterminate when there is no observer. Hugh Everett’s many-worlds interpretation offers an alternative by stating that the observer is always part of the system, regardless of the nature of the observer; any entity that observes can fulfill this function. The THIS framework is introduced to represent the relationship between an observer and the observed in information extraction. The combined quantum state of the observer and the observed at any given time ensures that the observer actively contributes to the way classical information is acquired. The observed does not calculate the observation, the observer calculates what can be observed from an abstract separation between observer and observed. Wheeler assumes a constitutive role of observation in the production of reality, while our framework focuses on the active, ongoing, and quantifiable coupling between observer and system, where the observer’s informational boundaries determine what aspects of reality can be accessed. A property of a system becomes a ’fact’ for an observer when the correlation between the system’s state and the observer’s record is nearly perfect. We propose measurable criteria for THIS and outline a verification program using memory-update protocols and controlled decoherence. The paper presents an epistemological view on ontology and as such also discusses the possibilities of artificial intelligence to transcend human cognitive limits.