A New Hierarchy of Sciences

Figure 1. My proposed hierarchy of sciences. The model I suggest for interpreting reality is defined by the big blocks in the centre, and the different sciences studying the elements of that model are shown in clouds bound to the elements they are studying. Only the science that is directly concerned with the study of such particular element is written. This figure is my own work (Maxandre Jacqueline), feel free to copy it as long as you put a link to this article.

The new hierarchy of sciences I propose* (Fig. 1) rests on one claim: the most basic ingredient of the universe, in other words the essence of reality, is information [1,3]. The traditional hierarchy of sciences (Fig. 2) considers matter to be the essence of reality but some prominent theoretical quantum physicists doubt this assumption [1].

If matter is not the essence of reality then the traditional hierarchy of sciences, based on the different scales of the universe, from the femtometer to the kilo-yottameter, becomes obsolete. The traditional hierarchy of science depicted in figure 2 starts from the smallest elements in our universe and ends with the biggest, adding as a very small weird element a model produced by mathematics. The fact that mathematics seems to be misplaced is a clue that this hierarchy could be improved. A new hierarchy of sciences based on the generation and processing of information can emerge.

Figure 2. Traditional hierarchy of sciences organised by scale, by Efbrazil - Own work, CC BY-SA 3.0, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=25567651

In the new paradigm suggested by figure 1, the universe's information is processed to be turned into display, with which life interacts, makes certain choices, and can simulate another universe's information.

This new paradigm implies that the universe is as if it were a computer simulation, idea suggested by Elon Musk [4]. I am not arguing here that the universe is a computer simulation, or that it isn't. I am only saying that life which interacts with information can make choices that can generate information through computers.

This model defines choice as an important action that creates information. This requires the existence of free will. The Cogito Model [2] developed by the information philosopher Bob Doyle reconciles the hypothesised capacity of certain life forms for free will with quantum mechanics. His model consists of a two-step process, freedom and will. The freedom is created by the quantum uncertainty characterising certain quantum particles in the brain, and the will is defined as the collapse of the wave function describing those quantum particles.**

The study of information pioneered by Claude Shannon is informatics and the study of the displayed information that we call matter is physics (including chemistry, geosciences, astronomy...). The study of the life that interacts with matter is biology (including medicine) and the study of decisions made by life forms is decision theory (that borrows methods from psychology, philosophy, artificial intelligence, microeconomics, statistics - especially bayesian). Finally, the generation of information from models, i.e. simulation, is studied by computational mathematics. Computers simulate models***  that come from various formal sciences such as mathematics, statistics or computer science.

I was inspired to write this post by the New Scientist article Essence of reality: Hunting the universe’s most basic ingredient [1] and then dug deep to find support for my intuition [2,3]. I had in the back of my mind Elon Musk's theory of the universe as a simulation [4] and the Matrix film trilogy. This idea that the essence of reality is information is not new: it was supported by theoretical physicist John Wheeler and stems from his Participatory Anthropic Principle interpretation of quantum mechanics [5,6]. He himself had drawn inspiration from John von Neumann and Eugene Wigner.

* The ideas proposed in this post are tentative and may be completely stupid.

** Caveats: 1) This was a quick summary which may be flawed and the model is more complex than that, 2) I don't know of and haven't looked for any experimental validation of this model.

*** If we assume that any system that can generate information from a model is a computer. Is the mind a computer? I would say so... maybe a quantum one.

<This work was copied from my previous blog. I originally posted it on 8th February 2017.>

Bibliography

[1] Essence of reality: Hunting the universe’s most basic ingredient By Anil Ananthaswamy Retrieved February 8, 2017, from New Scientist Web site https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23331112-900-essence-of-reality-hunting-the-universes-most-basic-ingredient/

[2] The Cogito Model Retrieved February 8, 2017, from Information Philosopher Web site http://www.informationphilosopher.com/freedom/cogito/

[3] The Information Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics Retrieved February 8, 2017, from Information Philosopher Web site http://www.informationphilosopher.com/introduction/physics/interpretation/

[4] Is life a video game? | Elon Musk | Code Conference 2016 By Recode Retrieved February 8, 2017, from Youtube Web site https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2KK_kzrJPS8

[5] Interpretations of quantum physics Retrieved February 8, 2017, from Wikipedia Web site https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interpretations_of_quantum_mechanics

[6] Informational physics Retrieved February 8, 2017, from Wikipedia Web site https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Digital_physics © Maxandre Jacqueline, 2017