Information door · 10 min read · published
Does Information Exist?
From Shannon’s measure of uncertainty to the puzzles of quantum theory and black holes, information is both a powerful description and a stubborn philosophical question.
Thesis
Information is not a ghostly substance hidden behind matter. It is a family of ways of describing distinctions, correlations, and possible states, made physically consequential by the systems that store, transform, and erase them.
A measure of uncertainty
Supporting/contextual references: [info-shannon-1948]
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Information is not meaning
Supporting/contextual references: [info-shannon-1948]
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No information without a medium
Supporting/contextual references: [info-landauer-1961] [info-bennett-1973]
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Quantum distinctions
Supporting/contextual references: [info-shannon-1948] [info-deutsch-1985]
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The black-hole ledger
Supporting/contextual references: [info-bekenstein-1973] [info-hawking-1976] [info-deutsch-1985]
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Substance, structure, or description?
Supporting/contextual references: [info-shannon-1948] [info-landauer-1961] [info-bekenstein-1973]
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Open research directions
Supporting/contextual references: [info-deutsch-1985] [info-bekenstein-1973] [info-hawking-1976]
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A distinction worth keeping
Supporting/contextual references: [info-shannon-1948] [info-landauer-1961]
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Sources & references
Supporting/contextual references, not claim-level proof.
- Claude E. Shannon — A Mathematical Theory of CommunicationBell System Technical Journal 27(3), 379–423; 27(4), 623–656, 1948.
- Rolf Landauer — Irreversibility and Heat Generation in the Computing ProcessIBM Journal of Research and Development 5(3), 183–191, 1961.
- Charles H. Bennett — Logical Reversibility of ComputationIBM Journal of Research and Development 17, 525–532, 1973.
- Jacob D. Bekenstein — Black Holes and EntropyPhysical Review D 7(8), 2333–2346, 1973.
- Stephen W. Hawking — Breakdown of Predictability in Gravitational CollapsePhysical Review D 14(10), 2460–2473, 1976.
- David Deutsch — Quantum Theory, the Church–Turing Principle and the Universal Quantum ComputerProceedings of the Royal Society of London A 400(1818), 97–117, 1985.