Micius Quantum Priza Awarded to Nicolas Gisin

Zeeya Merali

FQxI quantum physicist Nicolas Gisin, of Geneva, in Switzerland and Constructor University, in Bremen, Germany has been awarded the 2023 Micius Quantum Prize, alongside Bristol University's John Rarity. The Micius Quantum Prize recognizes significant science advances ranging from early conceptual contributions to recent experimental breakthroughs. The Micius Quantum Prize 2023 focuses on early quantum key distribution experiments–the bedrock of ultra-secure quantum cryptography–using optical fibers. Read more on QSpace News.

Lorraine Ford

Nicolas Gisin says: “A finite region of space cannot contain more than a finite number of bits of information … but a real number generally contains an infinite amount of information, infinitely many bits … in binary form … and for almost all real numbers there in no way of compressing that … even if I give you maybe a billion of bits of this real number, the billion plus one bit is as random, is as unpredictable as the outcome of a quantum measurement … so you have the same kind of randomness … in a quantum experiment, or … the binary expansion of a real number” .

BUT, what is real-world information, what are real-world numbers?

Models of the real world, based on any attempted answers to these types of questions, have implications for the nature of the world. E.g:

Do real-world numbers morph into other real-world numbers (which is a completely untenable concept),
OR, more realistically, can real-world numbers only “jump” (which is what is ACTUALLY seen); this necessarily involves the assignment of a number to a category, which further implies the existence of something that has the "power" to assign numbers to categories (which is a completely outrageous idea to physicists).

Lorraine Ford

Lorraine Ford
(continued)

It shouldn’t have to be explained that:

Real-world categories (like relative position or energy) are different to real-world numbers; categories are not numbers, and numbers are not categories. Therefore, any real-world number “jump” is actually an assignment of a real-world number to a real-world category.
Real-world categories are basic aspects of the world, but real-world numbers are not necessarily basic aspects of the world. It seems to be significant that numbers can potentially be constructed out of special relationships between categories, where the numerator and denominator categories cancel out. And perhaps, any apparently non-constructable numbers that are measured can ultimately be explained away as being due to other factors in a complex system.

Lorraine Ford

Lorraine Ford
Numbers:
If real-world numbers are things that can only be “jumped” to a new value, as opposed to things that can smoothly morph into a new value, then this implies that SOMETHING is jumping the numbers, i.e. something is assigning numbers to the categories (like relative position).

But exactly what could have the power to jump the numbers? Unless one believes in miracles or Gods, it can only be matter (from particles to living things) that is jumping some of its own numbers, And as a consequence of these number changes, the law of nature relationships automatically change other numbers that apply to other categories, simply by virtue of passive relationship.

And contrary to what Nicolas Gisin seems to imply, there are no zeroes and ones floating round in the universe: any numbers are always firmly anchored to a category, which is in turn firmly anchored into a law of nature relationship.

Information:
Clearly, there are no zeroes and ones floating round in the universe, let alone organised assemblies of zeroes and ones. However, people use zeroes and ones to symbolically represent FALSE and TRUE. But what could be true or false in the universe? The only aspects of the universe that are TRUE are the ever changing, on-the-spot, time-place, point-of-view collations of numbers that apply to categories. These TRUE collations of numbers, that are often only momentarily TRUE, apply from the point of view of matter, from particles to living things. In other words, "information" can only be TRUE point-of-view knowledge of the universe that is possessed by matter.

Lorraine Ford

Lorraine Ford
Information (continued):
Unlike the world that exists only in the imagination of mathematicians, just because a particular collation of numeric values (that apply to categories like relative position or mass, that apply to an item of matter) is TRUE in the real world, doesn’t imply that there therefore must exist one or more other universes where this collation of numeric values is FALSE.

Similarly, unlike the world that exists only in the imagination of mathematicians, just because a particular collation of numeric values (that apply to categories, that apply to an item of matter) is TRUE in the real world, doesn’t imply that abstract, Platonic truth is a thing that must exist.

In the real world, when a particular collation of numeric values (that apply to categories, that apply to an item of matter) is TRUE, it implies that this conscious sense of truth must exist as a real thing IN the real world (as opposed to existing in a purportedly existing Platonic realm).

In addition to the basic, time-place, on-the-spot, conscious sense of what is TRUE, the higher-level sense of FALSE is clearly something that can only consciously exist for those (seemingly higher-level) entities that can perform a type of IF-AND-OR-THEN logical analysis of the numeric situation they face.

Lorraine Ford

Lorraine Ford
Getting back to Nicolas Gisin, who recently won the prize: what is the information he is talking about, and what are the numbers he is talking about?

What is real-world information, and what are real-world numbers?

Contrary to what Nicholas Gisin seems to say, there are no unattached zeroes and ones floating round the universe: every real-world number is associated with a category (like the relative position category), which is in turn bound into relationships with other categories.
Real-world numbers are not necessarily fundamental aspects of the world, because they can potentially be constructed out of mathematical relationships between categories where the numerator and denominator categories cancel out. Unlike numbers, categories (and relationships between categories) are the fundamental mathematical aspects of the world.
A real-world number is a type of thing that can’t smoothly morph into another real-world number, it can only be “jumped”. This is a bit more complicated than it might seem, because the number has to be assigned to a category. So, there exists an aspect of the world that assigns numbers to categories.
It can’t be assumed that the world automatically or Platonically knows its own numbers and categories and relationships: this is the role of an information/ knowledge aspect of the world. This information/ knowledge aspect is the necessary, on-the-spot, time-place, point-of-view aspect of the world that knows that a collation of numbers (that apply to categories) is on-the-spot, time-place, point-of-view TRUE.

Lorraine Ford

Lorraine Ford
Re Information:
Existence doesn’t imply knowledge of existence.

How come people seem to think that the world would automatically/ Platonically know itself, i.e would automatically/ Platonically know its own on-the-spot categories and numbers, just because these categories and numbers exist?

But existence doesn’t imply knowledge of existence.

So, as well as the categories, relationships and numbers, the world also needs a knowledge/ logic aspect, where the on-the-spot, time-place, point-of-view knowledge/ logic is representable as statements like:

(category1=number1) AND (category2=number2) IS TRUE.

This sort of information/ knowledge/ logic aspect, that is necessary to a system, is not implied by the categories, relationships and numbers: the world needs a separate information/ knowledge/ logic aspect.

Lorraine Ford

Lorraine Ford
How could anyone have ever thought that an information/ knowledge/ logic aspect was not a basic and necessary aspect of the world?

This idea, that the low-level particle/ atom/ molecule parts of the world would never need a low-level information/ knowledge/ logic aspect, is yet another instance of human hubris, the hubristic idea that human beings are completely different to, and superior to, the world that surrounds them, the world of which they are a part.

Stripped of the bells and whistles of higher-level consciousness, information/ knowledge of oneself and one’s surroundings is necessary for all entities, from particles, atoms and molecules to living things.

This low-level information/ knowledge/ logic of low-level particles/ atoms/ molecules is not representable as a quantity, i.e. not representable as a number that applies to a category.

Low-level information/ knowledge/ logic is only representable in statements using logical connective symbols, a simple example of which might be:

(category1=number1) AND (category2=number2) IS TRUE.

Lorraine Ford

Lorraine Ford
RE information:
The necessary information/ knowledge/ logic aspect of the world is only representable using special symbols like AND, OR, and IS TRUE.

Things like the experimentally verified law-of-nature equations of physics, with their categories (like relative position or mass), and the numbers that apply to the categories can NEVER represent the information/ knowledge/ logic aspect of the world.

You can even define a new category that you call “information” and you can do calculations and arrive at a number that applies to this new “information” category, but that is exactly what information IS NOT: information is NOT yet another number that applies to yet another category.

Information is the necessary time-place, on-the-spot, point-of-view aspect of the world that knows what collation of numbers (that apply to the categories) is on-the-spot TRUE.

This necessary time-place, on-the-spot, point-of-view, collated aspect of the world is NOT representable using the law-of-nature equations of physics, with their categories and numbers.

The necessary information/ knowledge/ logic aspect of the world is only representable using special symbols like AND, OR, and IS TRUE.

Lorraine Ford

Lorraine Ford
The existence, at the very lowest level of the world, of categories, relationships (between the categories), and numbers (that apply to the categories) does not imply knowledge of their existence.

It can’t be assumed that a unifying low-level knowledge/ information/ logic aspect of the world is included/ subsumed in the categories themselves, or the relationships (between the categories) themselves, or the numbers (that apply to the categories) themselves.

There necessarily exists a separate, unifying, time-place, point-of-view, knowledge aspect, at the very lowest level of the world, that knows what collation of numbers applies to what categories. THIS is the “information” aspect of the world.

Lorraine Ford

Lorraine Ford
Re “information”:

When will physicists attempt to model what is animating the low-level mathematical world? Mathematical symbols written on a page, e.g. equations representing laws of nature, are only animated in the imagination of physicists and mathematicians. What aspects are needed to animate a real-life mathematical system?

Well, the low-level mathematical world clearly knows its own relationships, categories and numbers, because if the low-level mathematical world had no knowledge of its own relationships, categories and numbers, the system couldn’t work. So, a knowledge aspect is needed to animate a real-life mathematical system.

And the low-level mathematical world is seen to jump its own numbers (that apply to the categories), and these number jumps are likely the only true moving parts in the entire system. So, an aspect that moves the numbers is needed to animate a real-life mathematical system.

But both the knowledge aspect of the system, and the aspect of the system that moves itself, are not explainable in terms of relationships, categories, or numbers.

This knowledge, that the system has of itself, or the parts of the system have of themselves and their surrounding situation, is the necessary information/ knowledge/ logic aspect of the world.

I challenge others to CLEARLY DEFINE what they mean by the term “information”, and to explain what necessary part this “information” would play in the real-life mathematical world.