Node · Chain Position 167 of 346

INFORMATION PRIMITIVE

**[[167_O1_Information-Primitive|O1]] (Information Primitive):** Information is an ontological primitive—it cannot be reduced to or derived from anything more fundamental. Information is not merely descriptive but constitutive of reality.

Connections

Assumes

  • None

Enables

  • None
Objections & Responses
Objection: Information Requires Physical Substrate
"Information is always instantiated in something physical—patterns in matter, energy states, etc. The substrate is primary; information is secondary."
Response

The substrate itself is describable only through its informational properties. What is an electron? A set of quantum numbers (information). What is a field? A function mapping spacetime points to values (information). The substrate IS information; saying information needs a substrate confuses levels of description. The substrate "carrying" information is itself information at a different level. It's information all the way down.

Objection: Rolf Landauer vs. Wheeler
"Landauer said 'Information is physical,' not 'Physics is informational.' You've inverted his claim."
Response

Landauer's insight that information has physical cost (kT ln 2 per bit erased) supports [[167_O1_Information-Primitive|O1]], not contradicts it. If information were merely abstract, it would have no physical cost. Landauer proves information is physical—but Wheeler extends this: if information is physical, and all physics reduces to informational properties, then information is the physical primitive. Landauer and Wheeler are complementary, not contradictory.

Objection: Category Mistake
"Information is a category of description; matter is a category of stuff. You're conflating epistemology (what we know) with ontology (what exists)."
Response

[[167_O1_Information-Primitive|O1]] explicitly asserts this is not a category mistake but a category identification. The epistemological/ontological distinction assumes matter exists independently of its informational description. But quantum mechanics shows measurement (information extraction) is constitutive. There is no "matter" outside of its informational characterization. The categories converge because reality is informational.

Objection: Digital Physics is Fringe
"The idea that reality is fundamentally computational/informational is speculative and not mainstream physics."
Response

Digital physics (Zuse, Fredkin, Wolfram) is one version of informational ontology, but [[167_O1_Information-Primitive|O1]] doesn't require it. [[167_O1_Information-Primitive|O1]] requires only that information is primitive—not that reality is a cellular automaton. Quantum information theory is mainstream and supports informational primitiveness. AdS/CFT holography is mainstream and encodes gravity as boundary information. The holographic principle is mainstream and bounds entropy by surface area (information). [[003_A1.3_Information-Primacy|Information primacy]] is increasingly standard, not fringe.

Objection: Infinite Regress
"If information is primitive, where did the original information come from? You've just pushed the regress."
Response

[[167_O1_Information-Primitive|O1]] declares information primitive precisely to stop the regress. Primitives are termination points—you don't ask "what is X made of?" when X is primitive. The question "where did information come from?" assumes information is derivative; [[167_O1_Information-Primitive|O1]] denies this. Information exists necessarily with existence ([[161_P0_Origin-Stage|P0]]) and consciousness ([[162_P1_Consciousness-Stage|P1]]). The question is like asking "where did existence come from?"—it's category confusion.

Physics Layer

Landauer's Principle (Revisited)

Information is Physical:

\Delta Q \geq k_B T \ln 2

Erasing one bit costs at least k_B T \ln 2 energy. This is not metaphor; it's thermodynamics.

Experimental Verification:

Bérut et al. (2012): Colloidal particle in double-well potential. Erasure measured at Landauer bound. Information has measurable physical cost.

Implication: If information has physical cost, information is physical. If information is physical and all physics reduces to information, information is the physical primitive.

Mathematical Layer

Shannon Information (Foundational)

Definition:

H(X) = -\sum_{x} p(x) \log_2 p(x)

Uniqueness Theorem (Khinchin):

Shannon entropy is the unique measure satisfying:

1. Continuity

2. Monotonicity (more equiprobable outcomes = more entropy)

3. Additivity for independent sources

4. Recursivity (chain rule)

This uniqueness suggests Shannon entropy captures something fundamental—not arbitrary choice but unique characterization of information.

Evidence
Empirical Grounding
This isn't philosophy. This is measured.
  • Landauer's Principle
  • Bérut et al.