Information And Interaction: Eddington, Wheeler, And The Limits Of Knowledge (the Frontiers Collection)
by Dean Rickles /
2016 / English / PDF
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In this essay collection, leading physicists, philosophers, and
historians attempt to fill the empty theoretical ground in the
foundations of information and address the related question of
the limits to our knowledge of the world.
In this essay collection, leading physicists, philosophers, and
historians attempt to fill the empty theoretical ground in the
foundations of information and address the related question of
the limits to our knowledge of the world.
Over recent decades, our practical approach to information and
its exploitation has radically outpaced our theoretical
understanding - to such a degree that reflection on the
foundations may seem futile. But it is exactly fields such as
quantum information, which are shifting the boundaries of the
physically possible, that make a foundational understanding of
information increasingly important. One of the recurring themes
of the book is the claim by Eddington and Wheeler that
information involves interaction and putting agents or observers
centre stage. Thus, physical reality, in their view, is shaped by
the questions we choose to put to it and is built up from the
information residing at its core. This is the root of Wheeler’s
famous phrase “it from bit.” After reading the stimulating essays
collected in this volume, readers will be in a good position to
decide whether they agree with this view.
Over recent decades, our practical approach to information and
its exploitation has radically outpaced our theoretical
understanding - to such a degree that reflection on the
foundations may seem futile. But it is exactly fields such as
quantum information, which are shifting the boundaries of the
physically possible, that make a foundational understanding of
information increasingly important. One of the recurring themes
of the book is the claim by Eddington and Wheeler that
information involves interaction and putting agents or observers
centre stage. Thus, physical reality, in their view, is shaped by
the questions we choose to put to it and is built up from the
information residing at its core. This is the root of Wheeler’s
famous phrase “it from bit.” After reading the stimulating essays
collected in this volume, readers will be in a good position to
decide whether they agree with this view.
