Review on Scientific American Book Club: Information and the Nature of Reality
From a review on the Scientific American Book Club
Information and the Nature of Reality: From Physics to Metaphysics by Paul Davies, Niels Henrik Gregersen
Many scientists regard mass and energy as the primary constituents of nature. In recent years, however, the seminal role of information in physics has come under increasing scrutiny. Information and the Nature of Reality collects 15 thought-provoking essays that gauge its potential role in overarching explanations of the cosmos.
Following a brief introduction, Ernan McMullin and Philip Clayton contribute essays tracing the evolving role of information in 21st-century science. In their view, “matter-based” theories can only take us so far, leaving doubts about the adequacy of materialistic models of reality. Paul Davies continues with an analysis of “it from bit”-the notion that information itself is the entity that underlies material things. The laws of physics, he notes, are informational statements, and these laws could be viewed as more fundamental than the phenomena they describe. Seth Lloyd then extends the conversation by summarizing his thesis that the universe itself is a computer; all the complexity we observe in nature could be the result of computations constantly occurring on a quantum scale.
Further along, Henry Stapp shows how the advent of quantum mechanics-in which the observer influences what is measured-made it easier to envision a paradigm shift wherein minds and the information they process are integral parts of the world. John Maynard Smith, Bernd-Olaf Kippers, and Jesper Hoffmyer then show how information underlies many phenomena in biology, from the genetic code to communication within ant colonies to the process of evolution itself. The book concludes with an examination of the philosophical, theological and ethical implications of information theory.
Information and the Nature of Reality surveys the nature and ubiquity of information as a component of the universe.
Information and the Nature of Reality: From Physics to Metaphysics by Paul Davies, Niels Henrik Gregersen
Many scientists regard mass and energy as the primary constituents of nature. In recent years, however, the seminal role of information in physics has come under increasing scrutiny. Information and the Nature of Reality collects 15 thought-provoking essays that gauge its potential role in overarching explanations of the cosmos.
Following a brief introduction, Ernan McMullin and Philip Clayton contribute essays tracing the evolving role of information in 21st-century science. In their view, “matter-based” theories can only take us so far, leaving doubts about the adequacy of materialistic models of reality. Paul Davies continues with an analysis of “it from bit”-the notion that information itself is the entity that underlies material things. The laws of physics, he notes, are informational statements, and these laws could be viewed as more fundamental than the phenomena they describe. Seth Lloyd then extends the conversation by summarizing his thesis that the universe itself is a computer; all the complexity we observe in nature could be the result of computations constantly occurring on a quantum scale.
Further along, Henry Stapp shows how the advent of quantum mechanics-in which the observer influences what is measured-made it easier to envision a paradigm shift wherein minds and the information they process are integral parts of the world. John Maynard Smith, Bernd-Olaf Kippers, and Jesper Hoffmyer then show how information underlies many phenomena in biology, from the genetic code to communication within ant colonies to the process of evolution itself. The book concludes with an examination of the philosophical, theological and ethical implications of information theory.
Information and the Nature of Reality surveys the nature and ubiquity of information as a component of the universe.