A Universe Built of Information

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Abstract

In the long journey of the human mind attempting to decode the workings of reality, one trusted companion has to be abandoned: the materialistic and reductionistic scientific worldview. What new notion should fill the void? Slowly a novel worldview is emerging, supported by different theoretical traditions. Most intriguingly, at the nexus of these formal approaches a new ontology of reality is becoming most apparent. Two novel mantras are spreading through humanity’s collective mind: “Information is physical” and “Information represents the ultimate nature of reality.” These surprisingly simple assertions have many deep consequences. Information theory is the wellspring of our contemporary digital world. Computation is, in essence, information processing. Then, information can be harnessed for mechanical work. Moreover, some of the pioneers of modern theoretical physics have, for a long time, suspected that information plays a fundamental role in nature. One striking consequence of this paradigm is that reality is inherently finite. Infinities can only be found in the abstract thought systems of the human mind. Essentially, there is a limit to how many bits of information can be stored in any region of space. The amalgamation of information theory, black hole thermodynamics, and string theory is hinting at a radical ontology: The universe is a hologram. In other words, our three-dimensional reality is an illusion created by the information content encoded on a two-dimensional area. Indeed, space and time appear to be emergent properties arising from pure quantum entanglement. Then, in very recent developments, string theory and theoretical computer science are conspiring to spearhead this novel probe into the heart of reality. The recalcitrant theory of quantum mechanics is reborn in a more approachable quantum-computational framework. In this novel information-theoretic context, the universe easily can be interpreted as a vast simulation. Level of mathematical formality: intermediate.

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APA

Glattfelder, J. B. (2019). A Universe Built of Information. In Frontiers Collection (Vol. Part F1071, pp. 473–514). Springer VS. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-03633-1_13

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