Events: Information and the Physical: Could Everything be Made of Information?

Instituut voor Geschiedenis en Grondslagen van de Natuurwetenschappen

Institute for History and Foundations of Science

GUEST COLLOQUIUM

Information and the Physical:

Could Everything be Made of Information?

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Chris Timpson

Faculty of Philosophy, Oxford University

Thursday, 6 June 2013 from 15.30h to 16.30h

in lecture hall BBL 0.65, Buys Ballot Building

Uithof, Utrecht University

Abstract

Developments in Quantum Information Theory have given momentum to the idea that information, not ordinary matter or physical stuff (particles and fields), might constitute the world. I will investigate what sense, if any, can be made of this proposal, and discuss whether it is indeed supported by developments in Quantum Information Theory. On the way, positive accounts will be given of the nature a) of the ordinary semantic and epistemic notion of information, and b) of the technical notions of information in classical and quantum information theories.