In a chapter in a forthcoming book, Mind and Matter: Modern Dualism, Idealism and the Empirical Sciences (Discovery Institute Press), design theorist William Dembski explores the strengths and weaknesses of John Archibald Wheeler’s perspective that the universe is, at bottom, information:
Dembski takes issue with Wheeler’s approach: “It’s one thing to say that measurement requires information. It’s another thing to say that the thing being measured is created by the observer doing the measuring. That seems a bit much, and the ontological status of these observers raises thornier questions than it resolves.” P1 Indeed. In such a world, how did the observers who take these measurements come to exist? Also, to what extent is the view that reality is bits an artifact of how we measure it? … Dembski wants to establish more firmly than Wheeler could that nature is indeed, at bottom, informational. He goes on to introduce and defend informational realism.
News, “It from bit: What did John Archibald Wheeler get right—and wrong?” at Mind Matters News
Takehome: Dembski agrees that the universe is, at bottom, information but proposes “informational realism” as a sounder approach to unpacking the idea. More later.
You may also wish to read: Spooky action at a distance makes sense in the quantum world. Einstein never liked quantum mechanics but each transistor in your cell phone is a quantum device.
It will be interesting to learn Dr. Dembski’s thoughts on the subject. Existence and all reality seems to be founded on some combination of causality, probability, chaos, information, choices, conscious observation, fine-tuned constants, and a a field of some kind where they can interact predictably.
This foundation doesn’t seem compatible with our pervasive materialistic paradigm.
-Q
Dr. Dembski’s forthcoming book, “Mind and Matter: “Modern Dualism, Idealism and the Empirical Sciences”, should be interesting to read. Although, I could not find it ‘pre-listed’ on the web anywhere.
Do you have a link News? I’m glad you said that you will cover this topic ‘more later’.
Dembski quoted Wheeler, “The more I have pondered the mystery of the quantum and our strange ability to comprehend this world in which we live, the more I see possible fundamental roles for logic and information as the bedrock of physical theory.”
I would certainly like to see Dr. Dembski flesh that out more fully.
It, i.e. “logic and information as the bedrock of physical theory”, is certainly compatible with Christianity.
As Anton Zeilinger stated,
Of note, if anyone is qualified to claim that the bedrock of physical reality is information, Anton Zeilinger certainly is. He has been at the forefront of many experimental breakthroughs in Quantum Mechanics
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