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8 The Universe Observed and Unobserved
the seeds of its future development. That is precisely what the science of cosmology predicts: The universe began in a state of maximum information, and
as it ages the store of information gradually winds down. The universe will die
when its stock of information is depleted. The information in the early universe
consisted mainly of heat: This kind of information is called thermodynamic
information.
However, there is also another kind of information: It is found in the more
mature universe as it cools and life-forms appear on planets. This is the information that exists in complex, organized objects, especially in knowledge
structures, where it is in the form of Gestalts. Everything complex is a store
of information, and arises in the course of learning and knowledge-creation,
which use thermodynamic information to fuel the process of creating order.
In an optimistic version of cosmology, the thermodynamic information which
came out of the Big Bang is gradually being transformed into the information of knowledge structures and organized objects which are created by life
processes. While the universe is cooling, it is concurrently becoming more
structured and complex.
It is important to note that in this section and the previous one, nothing
new has been claimed about the physics of the universe. If we choose to think
of natural phenomena as things presented to us instead of things happening in
nature, that is merely an alternative way of looking at the same thing. If we
decide to think of natural forces as constraints to our freedom of action, that
too is no more than a shift in viewpoint. It’s what is often called “looking at
things from outside the box”. The value of looking from outside the box is
that sometimes you observe things that you had never noticed before, and gain
insights you would not have acquired otherwise.
Mind and Cosmos
We are created as beings with sense organs, hence we’re compelled to know
the world in a sensory fashion. We are limited to receive all knowledge of
the world in the form of sensory experience. The very meaning of knowing
our environment is that specific aspects of it are represented in a form that we
experience by sensing and feeling. There is no other possible way of knowing. The
romantic idea of knowing something directly, “as it really is”, is unintelligible.
Even sensing an object by machine requires that information from the object be
received. What is sensed is merely information, not the object proper. The link
between the information and the object is just as indirect as the link between
our sensations and what they represent.
8 The Universe Observed and Unobserved
the seeds of its future development. That is precisely what the science of cosmology predicts: The universe began in a state of maximum information, and
as it ages the store of information gradually winds down. The universe will die
when its stock of information is depleted. The information in the early universe
consisted mainly of heat: This kind of information is called thermodynamic
information.
However, there is also another kind of information: It is found in the more
mature universe as it cools and life-forms appear on planets. This is the information that exists in complex, organized objects, especially in knowledge
structures, where it is in the form of Gestalts. Everything complex is a store
of information, and arises in the course of learning and knowledge-creation,
which use thermodynamic information to fuel the process of creating order.
In an optimistic version of cosmology, the thermodynamic information which
came out of the Big Bang is gradually being transformed into the information of knowledge structures and organized objects which are created by life
processes. While the universe is cooling, it is concurrently becoming more
structured and complex.
It is important to note that in this section and the previous one, nothing
new has been claimed about the physics of the universe. If we choose to think
of natural phenomena as things presented to us instead of things happening in
nature, that is merely an alternative way of looking at the same thing. If we
decide to think of natural forces as constraints to our freedom of action, that
too is no more than a shift in viewpoint. It’s what is often called “looking at
things from outside the box”. The value of looking from outside the box is
that sometimes you observe things that you had never noticed before, and gain
insights you would not have acquired otherwise.
Mind and Cosmos
We are created as beings with sense organs, hence we’re compelled to know
the world in a sensory fashion. We are limited to receive all knowledge of
the world in the form of sensory experience. The very meaning of knowing
our environment is that specific aspects of it are represented in a form that we
experience by sensing and feeling. There is no other possible way of knowing. The
romantic idea of knowing something directly, “as it really is”, is unintelligible.
Even sensing an object by machine requires that information from the object be
received. What is sensed is merely information, not the object proper. The link
between the information and the object is just as indirect as the link between
our sensations and what they represent.