I currently believe that I am a limited (finite) physical and conceptual coalescence of an infinity of information. I believe that organized, and therefore limited, information is knowledge—and it can be physical or conceptual.
Think of all the infinite information that limited humans are incapable of sensing and accessing. We are limited and can’t possibly undertake the act of “getting to know” all infinite information.
“We live in a participatory universe.” — John Archibald Wheeler, theoretical physicist
I might say that humans are incapable of participating with the infinity of information. We can’t “shake hands” with the infinite number of hands that there are “out there” to shake.
Politicians are well aware of this.
They use all kinds of social media to replace these handshakes. Politicians can’t shake hands with all the hands on this earth. It’s impossible for anyone to “get to know” everyone or everything on Earth, let alone infinite information.
But it’s possible to participate in at least some of it. Let’s participate with the universe and try to create a finite thought or perhaps knowledge:
I was wondering how AI might apply its limited information:
Wheeler proposed that this “participatory” quality of the universe could arise from information being fundamental to physics. He speculated that information is the most basic element of the universe, and matter arises from information:
“We live in a world where there seems to be more than one observer. I like to think that reality is created by acts of observer-participancy. That is, reality is brought into being – forced, so to speak, into actuality – by the very act of observation.”
Wheeler’s metaphor of the “handshake” represents the interaction between consciousness and the universe through observation – an interaction he believed was necessary to fully realize and shape reality. This view proposes that we live in a participatory universe where observers actively participate. Without the observing mind, the universe remains unformed and not fully “realized.”
Humans “shake hands” with infinite information and turn it into the limited information we call knowledge. Think of humans creating knowledge from quantifiable information, and you get things like bombs and AI. Think of humans creating knowledge from non-quantifiable information, and you get painting, music, and dancing.
Think of all the infinite information that limited humans can’t access, and therefore can’t create anything “physical”?
Think.
Humans can consciously shake a hand and create non-physical manifestations of knowledge. This knowledge is called a concept, or a belief.
Wheeler knows theoretical quantum physics. He was central in the creation of the atomic and hydrogen bomb. He also created concepts, or beliefs. He recently passed, but he’s here, right now.
I believe that organized, and therefore limited, information is knowledge—and it can be physical or conceptual. I currently believe that I am a limited (finite) physical and conceptual coalescence of an infinity of information. I will close from Blog 5:
Maybe someday, humans will believe that they are limited physical and conceptual coalescences of infinite information. All things “be” as one, in that endless sea of infinite information. My belief, again:
We are all an Improbable Possibility. You are actualizing, right now, in this infinitely-shrinking zeptosecond. Instantaneously, you are Now, Then and Next.
Maybe someday, humans will believe that they are quantum foam.
Isn’t it a comfort to have defendable scientific information that suggests you exist in the “Now”, as well as in the “Then and Next”? Everything that was part of you then, is part of you now, and will be next? Everything, including your friends and families?
Now, Then and Next. I like the sound of that.
Couldn’t you believe that John Archibald Wheeler is here Now, as much as he was Then and will be Next?