I have been thinking that what is important is the "extraction" of information from the universe. We extract information via some sort of measuring device - be it our own eyes or high tech devices to peer into the very small or very large. This is what I take from Wheeler's "It from Bit"
That red chair we see - is it anything more than an artefact formed by our brains based on the information we receive via our retinas?
When we try to "see" which hole the electron went through in the double slit experiment - we extract information from the system under consideration, hence forever changing the system under consideration. We pump energy into the system (measurement) and get information in return.
QM suggests that prior to our extraction, the electron exists in a superimposed state - and the extraction causes the "collapse of the wave function" and we see the electron at one slit or another. The state of the electron went from probability to certainty - due to the extraction. Taking something from a system usually means the system changes - yet taking information usually seems sort of "soft" - yet things like position, momentum, charge, spin, etc. can only be known by information extraction. But by "known" - what do we mean? Sometimes we mean that something gets stored in a storage device - be it a computing storage device or a human brain. I think Bohr suggested this at least meant "registration" - like the trail of a charged particle through a cloud chamber or a piece of crystal (not necessarily a conscious human brain). Registration usually means exchange of energy leaving behind information about the event.
Being educated in Physics yet spending a lifetime in Information Technology - I find it fascinating there may be convergence of these technologies - and indeed the universe may indeed be made up of information.
I have been thinking that what is important is the "extraction" of information from the universe. We extract information via some sort of measuring device - be it our own eyes or high tech devices to peer into the very small or very large. This is what I take from Wheeler's "It from Bit"
That red chair we see - is it anything more than an artefact formed by our brains based on the information we receive via our retinas?
When we try to "see" which hole the electron went through in the double slit experiment - we extract information from the system under consideration, hence forever changing the system under consideration. We pump energy into the system (measurement) and get information in return.
QM suggests that prior to our extraction, the electron exists in a superimposed state - and the extraction causes the "collapse of the wave function" and we see the electron at one slit or another. The state of the electron went from probability to certainty - due to the extraction. Taking something from a system usually means the system changes - yet taking information usually seems sort of "soft" - yet things like position, momentum, charge, spin, etc. can only be known by information extraction. But by "known" - what do we mean? Sometimes we mean that something gets stored in a storage device - be it a computing storage device or a human brain. I think Bohr suggested this at least meant "registration" - like the trail of a charged particle through a cloud chamber or a piece of crystal (not necessarily a conscious human brain). Registration usually means exchange of energy leaving behind information about the event.
Being educated in Physics yet spending a lifetime in Information Technology - I find it fascinating there may be convergence of these technologies - and indeed the universe may indeed be made up of information.