The Tao of It and Bit by Cristinel Stoica

Thank you

Dear Cristi -

It is very interesting to see Wheeler's ideas covered in such depth; I loved your coverage of the subject. You speak of Wheeler's exhortation to be bold and to question everything, and this makes me think about how all discoveries were 'pre-discovered' - by artists, writers, and people living off the land. They didn't worry about looking ridiculous; they had to survive, and so they took a clear look at everything.

You present the idea of our subjectivity (or It from Bit) by using the very effective analogy of the different webs. This makes Wheeler's concept very clear, I must say. I consider the matter in broader terms than is usually allowed by physics: That is, from the perspective of evolution - and how our constant yes-no interaction with the Cosmos has effectively created our 'Species Cosmos.'

We determine the past, and the physical laws - as Wheeler says - but only in so far as these relate to us at a particular point in evolution: Our perception of the Cosmos never remains the same - and over great enough periods of time all discoveries, all facts, are re-configured beyond recognition.

Like you, I know this doesn't mean that only information exists: There is a 'greater reality' beyond the Species Cosmos - and it is this that gives phenomena their correlation, as you point out.

In fact, as our biology and information systems develop (and as our experimental sophistication increases) we perceive ever more of this 'greater reality'. We cannot know this 'greater reality' completely - anymore than we can know the 'complete state' - but we can deduce certain of its effects upon the Cosmos, and upon the logically consistent views of the evolving observer.

It might interest you to consider these deductions in my essay.

I think you would agree that it's accurate to say that information exists in correlation with the field of observation: That It and Bit are correlated - the observer evolving and altering his perception of the cosmos, as the cosmos does the same. As you put it - 'It from Bit and Bit from It.'

In the course of evolution 'It' is altered completely: the organism interacts with inorganic reality in a certain manner at every stage of development, and we have only to look at our cousins the monkeys to understand how radically our 'Its' have changed over the last 300,000 years.

This might seem to have little to do with Physics, until we consider that evolution never stops - indeed, it is occurring in minute increments at every moment of perception: It is, ultimately, time itself - for no change or sequence of any sort exists apart from the moment of perception, which is itself entirely determined by evolution at that moment. It is Evolution that creeps into everything and makes the world; and I believe Physics must expand Wheeler's concept of It and Bit to take account of this evolutionary influence, if we are to define how 'information underlies reality - '

Once again, I found your essay very helpful - and certainly very well written - and have rated it highly. I do believe you'll find much to think about in my paradigm, and I hope you drop by soon and let me know what you think.

All the best in the competition!

John.

Dear Cristi,

I have come back here to say (in hard score) that I totally buy your argument. It only needs a working model like I think I have per chance attempted to raise in What a Wavefunction is . While my arguments may not be YET elegant am sure there will be physicists who can read and rate with required open mind. I have found one or two!!

When you are back please do tell a peer or two to compare and contrast with yours. And then rate, deadline permitting. But we are here at last to push boundaries, ain't we?

Cristi,

Thank you for a very lucid and enjoyable essay. I am very much in agreement with your global consistency principle.

It is also possible to express this principle using bounded Lagrangians. The yin/yang is the reciprocity between the observable consequences and unobservable consequences (erased entanglement information). (See my essay "A Complex Conjugate Bit and It".)

In this way, quantum information theory complements your arguments.

Best wishes,

Richard

Hi Cristi

Richard Feynman in his Nobel Acceptance Speech (http://www.nobelprize.org/nobel_prizes/physics/laureates/1965/feynman-lecture.html)

said: "It always seems odd to me that the fundamental laws of physics, when discovered, can appear in so many different forms that are not apparently identical at first, but with a little mathematical fiddling you can show the relationship. And example of this is the Schrodinger equation and the Heisenberg formulation of quantum mechanics. I don't know why that is - it remains a mystery, but it was something I learned from experience. There is always another way to say the same thing that doesn't look at all like the way you said it before. I don't know what the reason for this is. I think it is somehow a representation of the simplicity of nature."

I too believe in the simplicity of nature, and I am glad that Richard Feynman, a Nobel-winning famous physicist, also believe in the same thing I do, but I had come to my belief long before I knew about that particular statement.

The belief that "Nature is simple" is however being expressed differently in my essay "Analogical Engine" linked to http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/1865 .

Specifically though, I said "Planck constant is the Mother of All Dualities" and I put it schematically as: wave-particle ~ quantum-classical ~ gene-protein ~ analogy- reasoning ~ linear-nonlinear ~ connected-notconnected ~ computable-notcomputable ~ mind-body ~ Bit-It ~ variation-selection ~ freedom-determinism ... and so on.

Taken two at a time, it can be read as "what quantum is to classical" is similar to (~) "what wave is to particle." You can choose any two from among the multitudes that can be found in our discourses.

I could have put Schrodinger wave ontology-Heisenberg particle ontology duality in the list had it comes to my mind!

Since "Nature is Analogical", we are free to probe nature in so many different ways. And you have touched some corners of it.

Best

Than Tin

Dear Cristinel,

You have provided a rich account of Wheeler's academics.

Wishing you luck,

___Ram

Dear Christi,

very well written, well illustrated and highly informative essay. I really loved the spider webs analogy and iceberg illustration. Axiom zero was a bit puzzling to me but the illustration was nice. An enjoyable read, you deserve to do well. Good luck, Georgina

Oops sorry Cristinel, I meant to write Cristi.

Hi Cristi,

I enjoyed your essay again. We have been in a few contests together.

Wheeler has what I call a genetic disease. He insists that quantum mechanical objects must move continuously with no gaps in space or time. And yes if this is true then he can have present events changing the past. This is reflected in your diagram of the delayed choice experiment.

Wheeler delays the removal of the second beamsplitter to insure that the photon is past the first beamsplitter. My objection to this is that Wheeler does not measure that the photon is beyond the first beamsplitter, he assumes it, given the way that photons move "continuously".

I believe there is good reason to believe that photons move discontinuously. A photon moves by appearing and disappearing. When the photon arrives at the first beamsplitter it disappears from space-time. It will reappear after a delay and at a distance that is its wavelength.

The conclusion that the present can change the past is then incorrect because the photon is not beyond the first beam splitter after the delay, it is actually non existent and waiting to enter existence again. When it does come into existence again, it is beyond the first beamsplitter.

Yes, this a different kind of QM. There is a logic behind it and experiments can be made. Please take a look at my essay. I would be interested in what you think of my attempt to destroy the uncertainty principle.

Thanks,

Don L.

Dear Cristinel Stoica :

I am an old physician and I don't know nothing of mathematics and almost nothing of physics,

But maybe you would be interested in my essay over a subject which after the common people, physic discipline is the one that uses more than any other, the so called "time". No one that I know ever said what I say over it and I am convince that I prove that with our clocks we measure "motion" and no "time.

Maybe you would be interested in my essay over this subject which after the common people, physic discipline is the one that uses more than any other.

I am sending you a practical summary, so you can easy decide if you read or not my essay "The deep nature of reality".

I am convince you would be interested in reading it. ( most people don't understand it, and is not just because of my bad English).

Hawking in "A brief history of time" where he said , "Which is the nature of time?" yes he don't know what time is, and also continue saying............Some day this answer could seem to us "obvious", as much than that the earth rotate around the sun....." In fact the answer is "obvious", but how he could say that, if he didn't know what's time? In fact he is predicting that is going to be an answer, and that this one will be "obvious", I think that with this adjective, he is implying: simple and easy to understand. Maybe he felt it and couldn't explain it with words. We have anthropologic proves that man measure "time" since more than 30.000 years ago, much, much later came science, mathematics and physics that learn to measure "time" from primitive men, adopted the idea and the systems of measurement, but also acquired the incognita of the experimental "time" meaning. Out of common use physics is the science that needs and use more the measurement of what everybody calls "time" and the discipline came to believe it as their own. I always said that to understand the "time" experimental meaning there is not need to know mathematics or physics, as the "time" creators and users didn't. Instead of my opinion I would give Einstein's "Ideas and Opinions" pg. 354 "Space, time, and event, are free creations of human intelligence, tools of thought" he use to call them pre-scientific concepts from which mankind forgot its meanings, he never wrote a whole page about "time" he also use to evade the use of the word, in general relativity when he refer how gravitational force and speed affect "time", he does not use the word "time" instead he would say, speed and gravitational force slows clock movement or "motion", instead of saying that slows "time". FQXi member Andreas Albrecht said that. When asked the question, "What is time?", Einstein gave a pragmatic response: "Time," he said, "is what clocks measure and nothing more." He knew that "time" was a man creation, but he didn't know what man is measuring with the clock.

I insist, that for "measuring motion" we should always and only use a unique: "constant" or "uniform" "motion" to measure "no constant motions" "which integrates and form part of every change and transformation in every physical thing. Why? because is the only kind of "motion" whose characteristics allow it, to be divided in equal parts as Egyptians and Sumerians did it, giving born to "motion fractions", which I call "motion units" as hours, minutes and seconds. "Motion" which is the real thing, was always hide behind time, and covert by its shadow, it was hide in front everybody eyes, during at least two millenniums at hand of almost everybody. Which is the difference in physics between using the so-called time or using "motion"?, time just has been used to measure the "duration" of different phenomena, why only for that? Because it was impossible for physicists to relate a mysterious time with the rest of the physical elements of known characteristics, without knowing what time is and which its physical characteristics were. On the other hand "motion" is not something mysterious, it is a quality or physical property of all things, and can be related with all of them, this is a huge difference especially for theoretical physics I believe. I as a physician with this find I was able to do quite a few things. I imagine a physicist with this can make marvelous things.

With my best whishes

Héctor

Hello Cristi,

We had a couple of interesting exchanges about June 1. Very much valued. I can now say I am now a "disciple" or "fan" of Wheeler. Following additional insights gained from interacting with FQXi community members, including you, I wrote on my blog the judgement in the case of Atomistic Enterprises Inc. vs. Plato & Ors delivered on Jul. 28, 2013 @ 11:39 GMT. I don't think you have read my essay yet but you can view the judgement.

Thanks,

Akinbo