Dear Jenny,
Thanks for the really great essay. It was so well written and thought provoking. You presented such an elegant discussion. I know from the comments here that you spent a lot of time on it--but honestly, you made it look easy!
You've done a nice job of presenting Goedel's incompleteness theorem, which I think definitely applies to the debate. Something that I've said more than once during this contest is that as unrealistic as it may be, I can still think of completely empty space existing, but I can't think of a universe full of stuff in which that stuff has to actually be the cause of existence. I think all the information in the Universe can't bring about the information's own existence. As you said at the end of your essay, "at least we can be satisfied that bits are representing some*thing*"--and I think that really is the bottom line. Actually, the way I think time has to pass, if it's going to pass at all, puts such a huge restriction on existence that the idea of bits coming to be all over the place AND causing their own existence is really untenable--which is really what my essay is about. So I guess the reason I liked the way you handled Goedel's theorem so much--"From within a Gameboy universe, the Gameboy cannot be entirely encoded and explained"--is that it applies so well to a point in the debate that I think is really important.
But you really went beyond all this in a way, and looked at quanglement as something that's got more to it than billiard balls popping in and out of existence all thoughout space, and then bouncing into one another and interacting according to the classical laws of physics. You gave "it from bit" a really fair shot. (By the way, I really liked your "matter does not just inter-act, it "inter-is""). In the end, however, you still find that information's got to be about something, and as I said I agree with that.
Also, I wanted to note that I've read pretty much every Michael Crichton novel. They are all good fun to read, as was your essay. You get a full score from me. I really like the quote you used.
Lastly, I should say that I'm sorry it took so long to get back to you after my first post. I went for supper with some friends and had to finish your essay when I got back.
Best of luck with everything!
Daryl