Greg: Why information is physical

[PILCH Hartmut <phm@a2e.de>]

Greg finally cites one of those great writings from big names which he
always invokes as supporters of co-design cosmology (i.e. the belief that
the universe consists of algorithms).  Here it is.  In short: a text by a
physicist who explains that the algorithmic model of entropy perfectly
matches the physical world.  I can't see how this supports co-design
cosmology and how it relates to cases such as Benson vs Gottschalk or
Dispositionsprogramm, where patent law scholars have upheld a borderline
which Greg and other patent experts claim to be unfeasible.  Maybe Greg or
someone else can help me.

> A recent German Patent Office document declares that information is
> physical enough to allow information processes (i.e. software) to be
> patentable under most conditions.  For example, they write (somewhat
> ill-formed semantically, though):

>     .... it is immediately apparent that the field of technology
>     alters to the extent that natural forces are controllable.
>     The field of information is therefore also included, at least
>     so far as it is controllable by natural forces, that is to say,
>     can be represented by physical variables in the form of data
>     and processed by machine, thus producing systematic results with
>     clear cause and effect.  In this sense, information can be
>     regarded as a physical variable and data processing as a
>     physical process.
>
> They footnote a 1991 article by Landauer, one of many papers about the
> physical nature of information.  I attach an abstract to a classic paper
> from 1989 illustrating such literature, especially in regards to
> information processing.
>
>
>
>     Zurek, W.H.
>     Algorithmic randomness and physical entropy.
>     Physical Review A (General Physics), 15 Oct. 1989, vol.40, 4731-51
> Abstract:
>
>     Algorithmic randomness provides a rigorous, entropylike measure of
> disorder of an individual, microscopic, definite state of a physical
> system. It is defined by the size (in binary digits) of the shortest
> message specifying the microstate uniquely up to the assumed resolution.
> Equivalently, algorithmic randomness can be expressed as the number of
> bits in the smallest program for a universal computer that can reproduce
> the state in question (for instance, by plotting it with the assumed
> accuracy). In contrast to the traditional definitions of entropy,
> algorithmic randomness can be used to measure disorder without any
> recourse to probabilities. Algorithmic randomness is typically very
> difficult to calculate exactly but relatively easy to estimate. In
> large systems, probabilistic ensemble definitions of entropy (e.g.,
> coarse-grained entropy of Gibbs and Boltzmann's entropy H=lnW, as well as
> Shannon's information-theoretic entropy) provide accurate estimates of the
> algorithmic entropy of an individual system or its average value for an
> ensemble. One is thus able to rederive much of thermodynamics and
> statistical mechanics in a setting very different from the usual.
>
>    Physical entropy, the author suggests, is a sum of (i) the missing
> information measured by Shannon's formula and (ii) of the algorithmic
> information content-algorithmic randomness-present in the available data
> about the system. This definition of entropy is essential in describing
> the operation of thermodynamic engines from the viewpoint of information
> gathering and using systems. These Maxwell demon-type entities are capable
> of acquiring and processing information and therefore can 'decide' on the
> basis of the results of their measurements and computations the best
> strategy for extracting energy from their surroundings. From their
> internal point of view the outcome of each measurement is definite.
> The limits on the thermodynamic efficiency arise not from the ensemble
> considerations, but rather reflect basic laws of computation. Thus
> inclusion of algorithmic randomness in the definition of physical entropy
> allows one to formulate thermodynamics from the Maxwell demon's point of
> view.

-- 
Hartmut Pilch, FFII & Eurolinux Alliance              tel. +49-89-12789608
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