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AGPhil: Arbeitsgruppe Philosophie der Physik

AGPhil 15: Quantum Gravity 3

AGPhil 15.2: Talk

Thursday, March 21, 2024, 15:30–16:00, PTB SR AvHB

How "existence" can emerge from nothing at all: Ancient and modern perspectives on Information in Quantum Gravity — •Ewoud Halewijn — TU Delft, Netherlands

The concept of "existence" is indispensable for our functioning as human beings. To survive, we better regard information as if it were "about what is existing", such as food or dangerous animals. Believing that information is "about reality", is beneficial in real life, so we might strive for a quantum gravity theory that describes "what really exists".

In this talk, I advocate we should temporize our efforts to do so, for two reasons. Firstly, information is not just "about reality". It is also "part of reality". Ancient Mesopotamian and early Vedic scholars were aware thereof, but hereafter classical Greek philosophers, Catholic scholars and mostly Descartes have removed part of the meaning of the concept of information. Secondly, the more thoroughly we study quantum phenomena, the harder it gets to make a clear distinction between what semioticians call signs (e.g. variables in theories) and their meaning (the "things" they describe). Unfortunately, once signs and meanings coincide, what well-functioning human beings consider to be information and reality, both cease to exist.

If we nevertheless want to "describe reality", we should initially develop models that are unrelated to what most people believe is "existing". And later on expand them, to let "existence" emerge out of nothing at all.

Keywords: Information; Quantum Gravity; Emergence; History; Existence