Dear Joe,
I do agree with you that everything happens only once, although I derive this conclusion from KQID worldview that Existence including us, our God/s and our Multiverse happens only once every absolute digital time T ≤ 10^-1000 seconds. I do think that Information as bits are fiction but real. Fiction because we make it up, and it is real because as Landauer and experimentally proven that any deletion of bits produce heat or entropy. Thus, information is physical. I enjoyed reading your unconventional essay BITTERS and original creative idea. We are all the seekers of the truth, we shall discover it no matter where it is hiding, if necessary as usual we fictionalize it according to our own image as Protogoras's measurement. Please comment on my essay and rank it if you desire. Best wishes, Leo KoGuan