The Nature of the Universe

By Rich Van Winkle

The Universe is all about energy1. Energy is all about information2. Our (human) specialty is the creation
of information, the ordering of information, the storage of information, and the transformation of
information. Now we should simply give information its due.

 Information is not just “data” (as in “facts about something”); it is:

 description (especially of relationships and interactions),
 knowledge received or given,
 any entity or form that provides the answer to a question,
 something that resolves uncertainty,
 a measure of the probability of any occurrence,
 the ideal identity or essence of something,
 a conveyer of concepts,
 the signifier of complexity,
 the representational basis for all physical objects,
 the qualitative and quantitative definition of structural complexity (or entropy),
 an expression of degree and vector in categorical invariance 3,
 any type of pattern that influences the formation or transformation of other patterns 4

While it seems obvious that information is real, it seems impossible that everything “real” is actually just
information. If it seems impossible that the things we perceive as real are just information in a special
environment then consider your most vivid and lucid dream – how real did it seem? Human imagination
and creativity are really just special abilities to take information and convert it into things that are real. In
the last century we have learned new information that is forcing us to reconsider our conception (and
perception) of reality.

The counterintuitive conception of a universe which merely converts information into something that is
perceived as “real” is no less correct than your television (which takes information and makes it into
sights and sounds that can seem pretty real). Your TV or monitor has pixels which are activated to
transform energy into photons of a particular color. The activation information comes from either a
recording device (i.e. “camera) which take “real information” and reproduce it or which take created
information and produce it. It is possible to create images that we cannot distinguish between “real” or
created. What we are coming to realize is that the Universe acts similarly 5.

1
Remember, matter is just a special form of energy = e=mc 2.
2
Paul Davies terms information the "ontological basement" of reality. For a more complete explanation of this (and
the Davies citation), see https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23431191-500-inside-knowledge-is-information-
the-only-thing-that-exists/.
3
A deterministic theory in information science related to the high-order property of a well-defined category to stay
the same (in respect to its object content) after its objects are transformed relative to each of their defining
dimensions. See R. Vigo / Information Sciences 181 (2011) 4847–4859
4
“International Encyclopedia of Organization Studies, Vol. 1”, Stewart Clegg and James R. Bailey, Editors, SAGE
(2008), p. 667
5
A television uses atomic particles which have the potential to emit specific types of light when stimulated by
undulating electrical fields (called waves) which evolve in specific patterns over time. “Quantum mechanics
describes subatomic particles using undulating mathematical objects called wave functions, which evolve smoothly
“Space” is packed with points of potentiality which respond to information in the form of waves
(undulating fields). The points are “physical” and the waves produce physical effects, but the causative
information is essentially non-physical. This is confusing because one of the physical effects of causative
information is physical information and physical information (as above) comes in several forms –
including causative information and energy. Our failure to distinguish the two types of information 6 has
led to “Maxwell’s demon” and a seeming violation of the second law of thermodynamics 7.

Causative information is non-physical – meaning it has no energy. It is non-dimensional so that time and
distance make no difference to it8. But incredibly, “A particle can be made to do work simply by receiving
information”9, even non-physical information. This is our most creative potential – although we use
energy to create thought (causative information), that causative information can yield more physical
energy than it took to produce it.

Knowing that the physicists out there feel “violated” by this concept (because the second law of
thermodynamics is “sacrosanct” in physics), I offer this consolation: get over it. The failure to recognize
that there is a non-physical aspect of reality proves that you are neither as observant as you should be
nor as rational as you insist that others be. “Thermodynamics” are physical properties, but you are a
transcendental being and are not bound by “physics”: get used to it. Expand, evolve, and create!

It is the nature of the Universe to expand and evolve. We are physical creations within that Universe
which have evolved beyond the physical. It is through our non-physical creativity that we have become
aware of the mechanisms by which physical reality has come into being and has emerged. It is through
non-physical creativity that we have come to grasp our non-physical creativity. It will be through our non-
physical creativity that we control our future. It is the nature of the Universe to create beings that can
create their own reality.

over time. A particle described by a wave function is more potentiality than point.” “Is this our first clue to a world
beyond quantum theory?” by Bob Henderson at https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23931860-100-is-this-
our-first-clue-to-a-world-beyond-quantum-theory/.
6
Causative information has been termed “quantum information” (as opposed to “classical information”). The “bits”
(smallest units) that make up quantum information are called "qubits" which can exist in an information
superposition or uncertainty (being in both "one" and "zero" states simultaneously). “The rules of quantum
information provide the most ‘compact’ description of physics, says Vlatko Vedral”.
https://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/article/is-information-fundamental/.
7
“Maxwell’s demon” is a thought creation which has an intelligent entity choosing which particles gather on either
side of a shuttered box. In doing so the demon decreases the entropy inside the box without transferring energy
directly to the particles – which would violate the second law of thermodynamics. That this possibility has reality
has been shown experimentally. “Information heat engine: converting information to energy by feedback control “
by Shoichi Toyabe, et al, Nature Physics 6, 988-992 (2010), arXiv:1009.5287 at https://arxiv.org/pdf/1009.5287.pdf.
8
This is behind the “spooky action at a distance” problem which confounded Einstein because he knew that
physical information is restricted dimensionally and he didn’t differentiate causative and physical information.
9
“The Future of Life: A Unified Theory of Evolution” by David Hunter Tow, Future of Life Media (2010), p. 364.