[Fis] it from bit

[Louis Kauffman]

Wheeler’s slogan (“it from bit”) stands for how we bring forth consistent descriptions into our world by making many guesses (scientific hypotheses) and 
correlating them with the help of imagination and reason until a coherent story emerges. The slogan is clever but has great utility, in that this is the way science is 
done. Of course the “bits” are big chunks and not just little 0’s and 1’s. However, in the game of twenty questions, each question is answered by Yes or No, and in this sense 
science can be structured in terms of bits. It reminds me of a conversation I had with a Dean of Science at an Unnamed University. I asked him how he did all that research with graduate students and acted as Dean for so many years. He said - well for me science is a business and for being Dean, I am very good at making binary decisions with no waste of time. 




> On Jan 19, 2024, at 1:09 PM, Marcus Abundis <55mrcs at gmail.com> wrote:
> 
> The problem with ‘it from bit’ is that it is a clever phrase with little actual utility, but sounds smart and thus continually draws in new individuals who have yet to think deeply about underlying issues.
> 
> Marcus
> _______________________________________________
> Fis mailing list
> Fis at listas.unizar.es
> http://listas.unizar.es/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/fis
> ----------
> INFORMACIN SOBRE PROTECCIN DE DATOS DE CARCTER PERSONAL
> 
> Ud. recibe este correo por pertenecer a una lista de correo gestionada por la Universidad de Zaragoza.
> Puede encontrar toda la informacin sobre como tratamos sus datos en el siguiente enlace: https://sicuz.unizar.es/informacion-sobre-proteccion-de-datos-de-caracter-personal-en-listas
> Recuerde que si est suscrito a una lista voluntaria Ud. puede darse de baja desde la propia aplicacin en el momento en que lo desee.
> http://listas.unizar.es
> ----------