A philosophical worldview or belief system grounded on the 20th century discovery that Information, rather than Matter, is the fundamental substance of everything in the universe. It is intended to be the 21st century successor to the ancient worldviews of Materialism and Idealism. An Update from Bronze Age to Information Age. It's also a Theory – of – Everything that covers, not just matter & energy, but also Life & Mind & Love.
Post 137.September 13, 2024
Active Information, Meaning & Form
Information is Fundamental & Universal
Form : Many of the physical features scientifically ascribed to Information — Non-Local, Matter, Energy, Causation, etc. — are also used to describe the Universal Quantum Field¹¹ that is currently postulated as the fundamental entity of the universe. QFT combines the elements of local Quantum Mechanics and Einstein’s universal Relativity. Ironically, a controversial feature of Quantum Theory is John Wheeler’s Observer Effect¹² which implies that the human mind has some power over physical events at the subatomic scale. Some interpret the unexpected experimental evidence as ultimately physical (objective), while others think it’s metaphysical (subjective). Hence the asso-ciation of the Universal Field with god-concepts. Customarily, physical Science is supposed to focus only on local specific events, and to leave universals and infinities to Philosophy and Mathematics.
The notion of causal Fields has also been applied to Biology. In the early 20th century, Rubert Sheldrake postulated the existence of an invisible Morphogenetic Field to explain the emergence of well-formed organs during fetal development. However, eventually physical genes took over that role. Then, in the late 20th century, the field concept of Ontogenesis was proposed, in which genetic information interacted and mediated with a Morphic Field in evolutionary development. Yet again, the metaphysical nature of fields yielded to the more tangible stuff of genes. Still, Peat noted that “Form is a key concept in biology. The function of everything, from the activity of an enzyme to a cell or organ, is related to its physical form”. He went on to say, “Form has associated with it the idea of a Gestalt, of global patterns, perception, and non-locality”. Ironically, the metaphysical (mathematical) Universal Quantum Field is also non-local and holistic. And many other features of Physics are can be described as “form preserving”. He then notes, “one could perhaps generalize the concept of inertia to that of the ‘law of persistence of form.’ ”
Meaning : Form can be both physical (shape ; configur-ation), and metaphysical (significance). “As Wolfgang Pauli emphasized, just as psychology had uncovered the objective in psyche (the collective or objective unconscious) so physics must find the subjective in matter”. Hence, Peat observed that, “Information by itself is nothing more than an abstract set of binary digits (Shannon and Weaver’s Information Theory) but if it is to act, if it is to affect the motion of the electron, co-ordinate the dance of a plasma, and the global movement of electrical activity within the brain, then it must have a parti-cular significance within a given context. Meaning comes down to the way the Information acts within different contexts”. One frame of reference is a Quantum experiment, in which entan-gled particles seem to share information at faster than light-speed. And a Biological context is the Immune System sharing information about Self and Non-self. Therefore, Peat goes on to propose that, “science can accommodate a new general principle, Active Information, alongside matter and energy”. In a physical/metaphysical context, Roger Penrose has boldly speculated that Consciousness emerges on the quantum scale, when a brain-state remains in superposition until the space-time curvature of gravity reaches a trigger point.
11. Universal Quantum Field : UFT is a theoretical framework in physics that aims to unify the fundamental forces of nature, such as electromagnetism, weak nuclear force, strong nuclear force, and gravity, into a single, comprehensive field”. https://www.sciencedirect.com/topics/physics-and-astronomy/unified-field-theory
12. Spiritual Field : “Central to quantum theory is the renowned Observer Effect, which posits that the act of observation influences the behavior of subatomic particles. This phenomenon suggests that consciousness plays a fundamental role in shaping the physical world—a principle that aligns seamlessly with spiritual beliefs.” https://www.cslminneapolis.org/news/the-quantum-mind-exploring-consciousness-and-spirituality
13. Is information matter or energy? : “The fundamental triad of energy/matter/information The concept of information as a physical element has been put forth by various researchers (Landauer, 1996;Stonier, 1990;Vopson, 2019;Wheeler, 1989). It is now considered as fundamental as well as matter and energy in the universe (Meijer, 2013; Stonier, 1996).” https://www.researchgate.net/figure/The-fundamental-triad-of-energy-matter-information_fig1_275017053
Blog Post 137 continued . . . click Next
Universal Quantum Reality is a Challenge to Local Scientific Determinism
Active Information, Meaning, and Form
Information as a
physical activity
F. David Peat
Quantum Physicist
“Elevate ‘Information’ to the level of a new physical concept, one that can be placed alongside Matter and Energy”
Holism is sharing Two or more entangled particles seem to share properties within a single system
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