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Information: What Do You Mean ?
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· January 2013
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Dirk K F Meijer
University of Groningen
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1
Information: what do you mean?
On the formative element of our universe
Dirk K. F. Meijer*
ABSTRACT
Information is considered as a fundamental building block of reality, along with matter and energy. Yet the word
information is often employed as a container term that represents many different modalities ranging from
information constituting a physical parameter to the daily transmission of the news in human culture.
Information is particularly known from the description of nature at its micro-level
and from computer science
(bits an qbits), but also is essential in understanding the evolution of macrostructures in the Universe. The
interactions of subatomic waves/particles subsequent to the Big Bang, guided by feedback loops and backward
causation, created a dynamic network of quantum information, that finally enabled the formation of highly
complex macromolecular structures and first life. Parallel innovations in biophysical complexity occurred,
expressed in quantum states that can
be brought in superposition, after an “intelligent” search and selection
process in nature, aiming at a future path. Therefore, both the becoming and future
of the Universe can be
viewed as an unfolding as well as a continuous measurement and creation of basic information.
A collective
memory of nature or a universal consciosness is considered as a prerequisite for the origin of life and further
evolution of intelligence.
Current information theory implies that information can both be described as an entropic element in which the
impact of information is inversely related to the probability that it will occur, versus the concept that information
reflects the certainty of a message and is directly related to its probability and meaning. This dual aspect of
information reflects the perspectives of sender and receiver in the transmission process.
It is shown that basic
information is largely hidden from us, due to observation- induced perturbation of this intrinsic information.
Information may be transmitted in very different ways and at very different levels. In the living cell this may
constitute chemical and electrical signals, but also specific spatial perturbations,
for instance, in the 3-
dimensional structure of proteins. At the level of human communication, vibration patterns can be expressed in
electromagnetic waves in the form of light, sound, music, as well as in images and stories (transmitted by radio,
telephone, internet and TV, for example). Such information is transferred to the brain through specifically
tailored sensory organs that accommodate complex patterns of wave activity, that subsequently are converted to
neural activities in a cyclic workspace of the nervous system. The emergence of human information, knowledge
and understanding , in itself, can be seen as a creative
force in the physical universe, which can influence the
generation of complexity in all domains. A new information paradigm has been proposed that represents a new
integral science of information, on a physical and metaphysical basis: it seems easier to describe matter and
energy in terms of information than vice versa. Consequently, information can be used
as a common language
across scientific disciplines.