Information-Based Physics and the Influence Network
Abstract
This essay considers a simple model of observers that are influenced by the world around them. Consistent quantification of information about such influences results in a great deal of familiar physics. The end result is a new perspective on relativistic quantum mechanics, which includes both a way of conceiving of spacetime as well as particle "properties" that may be amenable to a unification of quantum mechanics and gravity. Rather than thinking about the universe as a computer, perhaps it is more accurate to think about it as a network of influences where the laws of physics derive from both consistent descriptions and optimal information-based inferences made by embedded observers.
Cite
@article{arxiv.1308.3337,
title = {Information-Based Physics and the Influence Network},
author = {Kevin H. Knuth},
journal= {arXiv preprint arXiv:1308.3337},
year = {2013}
}
Comments
Submitted to the FQXi 2013 Essay Contest titled: "It from Bit or Bit from It?"