- #1
1Truthseeker
- 43
- 0
My question uses this definition of information:
- An intangible and dimensionless thing that is not energy nor matter.
- Can be an arrangement of matter (a typed/printed letter on a page) or a pattern of energy over time (music on the radio).
I hear physicists talk about "information" sometimes. Are there any prominent theories on information itself. Such as how it can be represented by any substance, matter, energy. Are there any attempts at formalizing the science of information itself, irrespective to its associated physical systems? Most of the time I read about "information" it is taken as a given, like some fundamental quality of reality, and used in conjunction with other theories, such as relativity which says no information can be transmitted faster than c.
Would everyone here agree that information is not energy and it is not matter, but something independent of each? And would everyone agree that information could be theoretically understood regardless of any rules of physics? Lastly, can we agree that (our) physics governs how information is transmitted, but not the truth value of that information. I know we can agree on that one, but stretching it further: can we agree that information is something that is irrespective of physics and only realizable as a result of physics, but not utterly dependent on our particular laws of physics to be expressed.
This is not my intention to be metaphysical, but a serious question. If something isn't matter and energy, but abstractions, what is the science that deals with this? Computer science comes close, and that is my field, but it seems much more fundamental than any of the disciplines, even mathematics. For if we could not express the simplest forms of information we wouldn't even know anything at all.
Thoughts?
- An intangible and dimensionless thing that is not energy nor matter.
- Can be an arrangement of matter (a typed/printed letter on a page) or a pattern of energy over time (music on the radio).
I hear physicists talk about "information" sometimes. Are there any prominent theories on information itself. Such as how it can be represented by any substance, matter, energy. Are there any attempts at formalizing the science of information itself, irrespective to its associated physical systems? Most of the time I read about "information" it is taken as a given, like some fundamental quality of reality, and used in conjunction with other theories, such as relativity which says no information can be transmitted faster than c.
Would everyone here agree that information is not energy and it is not matter, but something independent of each? And would everyone agree that information could be theoretically understood regardless of any rules of physics? Lastly, can we agree that (our) physics governs how information is transmitted, but not the truth value of that information. I know we can agree on that one, but stretching it further: can we agree that information is something that is irrespective of physics and only realizable as a result of physics, but not utterly dependent on our particular laws of physics to be expressed.
This is not my intention to be metaphysical, but a serious question. If something isn't matter and energy, but abstractions, what is the science that deals with this? Computer science comes close, and that is my field, but it seems much more fundamental than any of the disciplines, even mathematics. For if we could not express the simplest forms of information we wouldn't even know anything at all.
Thoughts?