<div dir="ltr">Dear Moises and all,<br><br>Floridi has an excellent chapter in his "philosophy of information" called "Against digital ontology". It's worth quoting the two fundamental questions he asks about digital ontology:<br><br>"a. whether the physical universe might be adequately modelled digitally and computationally, independently of whether it is actually digital and computational in itself;<br><br>b. whether the ultimate nature of the physical universe might be actually digital and computation in itself, independently of how it can be effectively or adequately modelled." (Floridi, "Philosophy of Information", p320)<br><br>My point is that this stuff is highly speculative. Of course, it might be argued that "it from qbit" is fundamentally different from "it from bit". But is it really? Quantum computers look rather like parallel processors, don't they? Also the emphasis on relations rather than atoms (qbits) in the article is interesting, but it looks like there is still an atomistic logic behind it. It's the stuff of computer science - even if it's quantum computer science.<br><br>I might struggle to see the point - even if I'm happy that physicists are talking about information. If anybody was to communicate this in a way that helps me see why this matters, they would probably have to amplify their descriptions - in effect, add redundancy in their descriptions. In this particular case, I think that would be very difficult.<br><br>Curiously, in the recent discussion on this list about the additional layer of information in DNA (<a href="http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-confirm-a-second-layer-of-information-hiding-in-dna">http://www.sciencealert.com/scientists-confirm-a-second-layer-of-information-hiding-in-dna</a>), I think it would be easier to amplify the descriptions. <br><br>Best wishes,<div><br></div><div>Mark<br><br><br><br></div></div><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote">On 5 November 2016 at 11:28, Moisés André Nisenbaum <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:moises.nisenbaum@ifrj.edu.br" target="_blank">moises.nisenbaum@ifrj.edu.br</a>></span> wrote:<br><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex"><div dir="ltr"><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Dear
FISers.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">I was very
excited with the John’s first message informing that a group of scientists is
discussing again the role of Information in Physics.<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The high impact on FIS list of John’s post (13 replies from different persons in 2 days) shows that it is yet an open discussion. Thank you all for the very interesting posts :-)</span></p><div><br></div><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">The works (not interdisciplinary nor reductionist) of Tom Stonier (1991), Holger Lyre (1995) and Carl Friedrich Von Weizsäcker, et. Al (2006) and many discussions on this list (<a href="http://fis.sciforum.net/fis-discussion-sessions/" target="_blank">http://fis.sciforum.net/fis-<wbr>discussion-sessions/</a>) are also about this theme. </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"></span></p><p class="MsoNormal">Scientific
American article is an introduction. So I went to the source of the project
named “It from Qubit: Simons Collaboration on Quantum Fields, Gravity, and
Information.<br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Home page:
<a href="https://www.simonsfoundation.org/mathematics-and-physical-science/it-from-qubit-simons-collaboration-on-quantum-fields-gravity-and-information/" target="_blank">https://www.simonsfoundation.<wbr>org/mathematics-and-physical-<wbr>science/it-from-qubit-simons-<wbr>collaboration-on-quantum-<wbr>fields-gravity-and-<wbr>information/</a><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Overview:
<a href="http://web.stanford.edu/~phayden/simons/overview.pdf" target="_blank">http://web.stanford.edu/~<wbr>phayden/simons/overview.pdf</a><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Project:
<a href="http://web.stanford.edu/~phayden/simons/simons-proposal.pdf" target="_blank">http://web.stanford.edu/~<wbr>phayden/simons/simons-<wbr>proposal.pdf</a><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Mainly, it
is an Interdisciplinary Resarch group trying to approximate Fundamental Physics
from Quantum Information, so I think that it is a good and necessary
initiative. Imagine what we can “extract” from this two fields working
together!<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"> </span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">They have
several projects, but I think that the final goals is not as important as the
revelations of the processes. We should look at the projects. Maybe we
can find that, after all, the title “it from qbit” was only a “marketing” (bad?) choice :-)<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><br></p><p class="MsoNormal">Kind regards,<br></p><p class="MsoNormal"><br></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">Moisés<span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">References:<span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">STONIER, T.
<b>Towards a new theory of information</b>. Journal of Information Science. <b>Anais</b>...1991Disponível
em: </span><a href="http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?eid=2-s2.0-0026386595&partnerID=tZOtx3y1" target="_blank"><span lang="EN-US">http://www.scopus.com/inward/<wbr>record.url?eid=2-s2.0-<wbr>0026386595&partnerID=tZOtx3y1</span></a><span lang="EN-US"><span></span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">“Information
science is badly in need of an information theory. The paper discusses both the
need, and the possibility of developing such a theory based on the assumption
that information is a basic property of the universe.”<span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">LYRE, H.
Quantum theory of Ur-objects as a theory of information. </span><b>International
Journal of Theoretical Physics</b>, v. 34, n. 8, p. 1541–1552, ago. 1995.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">“The
quantum theory of ur-objects proposed by C. F. von Weizsäcker has to be
interpreted as a quantum theory of information.”<span></span></span></p><p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US"><br></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">WEIZSÄCKER,
C. F. VON; GÖRNITZ, T.; LYRE, H. <b>The structure of physics</b>. </span>Dordrecht:
Springer, 2006.<span></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-US">“the idea
of a quantum theory of binary alternatives (the so-called ur-theory), a unified
quantum theoretical framework in which spinorial symmetry groups are considered
to give rise to the structure of space and time.”<span></span></span></p><div class="gmail_extra"><br><div class="gmail_quote"><span class="">2016-11-03 16:52 GMT-02:00 John Collier <span dir="ltr"><<a href="mailto:Collierj@ukzn.ac.za" target="_blank">Collierj@ukzn.ac.za</a>></span>:<br></span><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex"><span class="">
<div lang="EN-ZA">
<div class="m_-6842305427728578048gmail-m_-2553233184730113427WordSection1">
<p class="MsoNormal">Apparently some physicists think so.<u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><a href="https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/tangled-up-in-spacetime/?WT.mc_id=SA_WR_20161102" target="_blank">https://www.scientificamerican<wbr>.com/article/tangled-up-in-spa<wbr>cetime/?WT.mc_id=SA_WR_2016110<wbr>2</a><u></u><u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>John Collier<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Emeritus Professor and Senior Research Associate<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span>Philosophy, University of KwaZulu-Natal<u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><span><a href="http://web.ncf.ca/collier" target="_blank">http://web.ncf.ca/collier</a><u></u><u></u></span></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><u></u> <u></u></p>
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<br></blockquote></div><span class="HOEnZb"><font color="#888888"><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="m_-6842305427728578048gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr"><div><div dir="ltr">Moisés André Nisenbaum<br>Doutorando IBICT/UFRJ. Professor. Msc.<br>Instituto Federal do Rio de Janeiro - IFRJ<br>Campus Rio de Janeiro<br><a href="mailto:moises.nisenbaum@ifrj.edu.br" target="_blank">moises.nisenbaum@ifrj.edu.br</a></div></div></div></div></div></div>
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<br></blockquote></div><br><br clear="all"><div><br></div>-- <br><div class="gmail_signature" data-smartmail="gmail_signature"><div dir="ltr"><div>Dr. Mark William Johnson<br>Institute of Learning and Teaching</div><div>Faculty of Health and Life Sciences</div><div>University of Liverpool</div><div><br>Visiting Professor<br>Far Eastern Federal University, Russia</div><div><br>Phone: 07786 064505<br>Email: <a href="mailto:johnsonmwj1@gmail.com" target="_blank">johnsonmwj1@gmail.com</a><br>Blog: <a href="http://dailyimprovisation.blogspot.com" target="_blank">http://dailyimprovisation.blogspot.com</a> </div></div></div>
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