Hello,
I have been watching a ton of Youtube videos trying to under exactly what is meant by “information” when used in physics. All the videos they discuss possible means, methods, conceptions of “how, why where” information is.
But, I cannot wrap my head around what exactly information IS?
In: 18
Quite a while since you posted, but I’m not sure you have a satisfactory answer yet.
You’ve spotted that we may generally mix up concepts like ‘knowledge’, ‘data’ and ‘information’ in everyday language, but all 3 are distinct.
The reason I highlight that fact is to make the next point clear – information in physics has absolutely nothing to do with us.
For any object or field in the universe, there are a set of properties shared by all objects/fields of that type. We possess knowledge of those properties, but that is not information in this context.
The information is the part that is particular to each instance/location of each property. Those values become data when we measure them, but the information belongs to the thing itself – an objects ‘state’ being the sum of the values each of its properties currently possesses.
Not sure if it will help further, but ‘the information paradox’ has been under discussion since the 70s in astrophysics https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_hole_information_paradox#:~:text=The%20black%20hole%20information%20paradox,quantum%20mechanics%20and%20general%20relativity.
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