Physical Concepts of Information and Informational Concepts of Physics

Dirk Bouwmeester, Anton Zeilinger

Philip Goyal

The concept of information plays a fundamental role in our everyday experience, but is conspicuously absent in framework of classical physics. Over the last century, quantum theory and a series of other developments in physics and related subjects have brought the concept of information and the interface between an agent and the physical world into increasing prominence. As a result, over the last few decades, there has arisen a growing belief amongst many physicists that the concept of information may have a critical role to play in our understanding of the workings of the physical world, both in more deeply understanding existing physical theories and in formulating of new theories. In this paper, I describe the origin of the informational view of physics, illustrate some of the work inspired by this view, and give some indication of its implications for the development of a new conception of physical reality.

Nicolas Francisco Lori

Antonio Saggion H, Rossella Faraldo, Matteo Pierno

Tyabba Siddiqui

A multidisciplinary approach is employed to study informational processes that may occur on subliminal physical (quantum) and subliminal cognitive (unconscious) levels, with a focus on assessing how these processes may be influenced by and in turn exert influence on human concepts and perceptions of information and reality. The unconscious is studied through the concepts developed by Carl Jung. In the study of quantum phenomena, the Copenhagen Interpretation is employed. In the study of depth psychology, archetypes are found to be possible cognitive structures that deal with organising information within the mind. It is suggested that archetypes may have the ability to indirectly but definitively influence aspects of behaviour in and perceptions of reality. It is also suggested that this influence may extend to our innate science forming abilities, thus compromising the notion of scientific objectivity. It is shown that a shift in world views within the physics community may be occurring that places emphasis on information as the fundamental foundation of physical reality. A correlation between Jungian concepts and fundamental concepts in Quantum Physics is highlighted. This correlation is shown to be informational in nature, suggesting that through a study grounded in Information Science, concepts in disparate subjects may be linked. The preliminary research conducted in this investigation shows that while human intervention on both a physical and psychic level may be disruptive to the extent of rendering certain aspects of reality unknowable, the concepts of the Collective Unconscious and Quantum Physics can nonetheless be united to form a deeper understanding regarding the informational structure of universal reality. As a result, it is suggested that this could help towards the formulation of a unified and universal theory of information.

B. Roy Frieden

This book defines and develops a unifying principle of physics, that of 'extreme physical information'. The information in question is, perhaps surprisingly, not Shannon or Boltzmann entropy but, rather, Fisher information, a simple concept little known to physicists. Both statistical and physical properties of Fisher information are developed. This information is shown to be a physical measure of disorder, sharing with entropy the property of monotonic change with time. The information concept is applied 'phenomenally' to derive most known physics, from statistical mechanics and thermodynamics to quantum mechanics, the Einstein field equations, and quantum gravity. Many new physical relations and concepts are developed, including new definitions of disorder, time and temperature. The information principle is based upon a new theory of measurement, one which incorporates the observer into the phenomenon that he/she observes. The 'request' for data creates the law that, ultimately, gives rise to the data. The observer creates his or her local reality.