Information-Based Physics and the Influence Network

Abstract

I know about the universe because it influences me. Light excites the photoreceptors in my eyes, surfaces apply pressure to my touch receptors and my eardrums are buffeted by relentless waves of air molecules. My entire sensorium is excited by all that surrounds me. These experiences are all I have ever known, and for this reason, they comprise my reality. This essay considers a simple model of observers that are influenced by the world around them. Consistent quantification of information about such influences results in a great deal of familiar physics. The end result is a new perspective on relativistic quantum mechanics, which includes both a way of conceiving of spacetime as well as particle “properties” that may be amenable to a unification of quantum mechanics and gravity. Rather than thinking about the universe as a computer, perhaps it is more accurate to think about it as a network of influences where the laws of physics derive from both consistent descriptions and optimal information-based inferences made by embedded observers.