| Contents
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| Contents, vii
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Preface, xi
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| 1. Introduction, 3
How to Use this Book, 1; The New Ideas of Information Philosophy 4; The Three Worlds of Information
Philosophy 9; Information Creation in the Material World 10;
Information Creation in the Biological World 11; Information Creation in
the World of Ideas 12; What Does Creation of Information Mean? 13
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| 2. Metaphysics, 15
Possibility and Possible Worlds 22; Naming and Necessity 24; Actual Possibles 25; Actualism 28;
Identity 30; Criteria 30; Coinciding Objects 33;
Composition 38; Aristotle Essences 45; Why Modal Logic Is Not Metaphysics 47
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| 3. Ontology, 55
The Metaphysicist’s Approach 56; Continuous or Discrete? 58;
Meta-Ontology 61
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| 4. Free Will, 63
The Two-Stage Model of Free Will 64; Neuroscientific Evidence for the Two-Stage Model 66; History of the Free Will Problem 69; The Standard Argument Against Free Will 74; Possible Worlds and Alternative Possibilities 76; Free Will and Creativity 77
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| 5. Value, 79
An Information-based Moral Code? 84; A Minimum Moral/Political Message? 85; An Information-based Social Contract? 87; Information and Negative Entropy as Objective Values 89
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| 6. Good and Evil, 91
Information (Negative Entropy) as Objective Good? 92; Evil 93;
A Statistical Comparison with Societal Norms 95
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| 7. God and Immortality, 97
No Creator, But There Was/Is A Creation 98; Theodicy (The Problem of Evil) 98; Omniscience and Omnipotence Contradictory? 98; The Ergod 99; The Problem of Immortality 100
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| 8. Epistemology, 103
The History of Epistemology 104; The Search for Knowledge Turns Inward 109 |
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| 9. Universals, 119
The One and the Many 122; Philosophical Triads 126; Three Sources for Authoritative Knowledge 128; Types of Triads 128; A Few Tetrads 129
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| 10. The Problem of Induction, 131
Induction and the Scientific Method 137
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| 11. The Problem of Meaning, 139
Meaning in the Theory of Information 142
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| 12 Mind, 147
The Scandal in Psychology 147; Mind as Immaterial Information 148; Information Evolves to Become Mind 149; An Information Mind Model 150
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| 13. Mind-Body Problem, 155
Interactionists 156; The Mind-Brain Identity Theory 158; Eliminative Materialism 159; Mind/Body and the ERR 163
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| 14. Consciousness, 165
The Binding Problem 168; Four “Levels” of Consciousness 170
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| 15. Self and Other Minds, 171
Mind Over Matter? 172; The Problem of Other Minds 173
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| 16. Mental Causation, 177
The Problem of Mental Causation according to Kim 179; The Emergence of Life from Matter and Mind from Life 179; Ribosomes Select Randomly Moving Amino Acids 181; Ion Pumps in Neurons Select Individual Atoms 183; Information Solves the Problem of Mental Causation. 185; “Bottom-up” Physical Processes Are Not Deterministic 186; Molecular Machines 187 |
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| 17. The Information Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, 189
The “Possibilities Function” 194; Possibilities and Information Theory 196; Other Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics 198 |
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| 18. The Measurement Problem, 201
Von Neumann’s Two Processes 205; Designing a Quantum Measurement Apparatus 207; An Irreversible Example of Process 1 208; The Boundary between the Classical and Quantum Worlds 210; The Role of the Conscious Observer 211; Three Essential Steps in a “Measurement” and “Observation” 214; Quantum Collapses Can Produce New Information 215
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| 19. Determinism, 217
Indeterminism 219; Determination 220; The Emergence of Determinism 222; The History of Determinism 222 |
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| 20. Collapse of the Wave Function, 225
What is the Wave Function? 225; Information Physics Explains the Two-Slit Experiment 227; Where Is The Information About Probabilities Embodied? 230 |
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| 21. Entanglement, 233
Einstein’s Discovery of Nonlocality and Nonseparability 235; The Importance of Conservation Laws in Entanglement 240; Can a Special Frame Resolve the EPR Paradox? 242; Do We Need Superdeterminism? 245; EPR “Loopholes” and Free Will 246
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| 22. Decoherence, 249
The Decoherence Program 251; The Measurement Process 257;
The Measurement Problem 259; What Decoherence Gets Right 261; What Decoherence Gets Wrong 263; Quantum Interactions Do Not Create Lasting Information 263; The Transition from Quantum to Classical World 263;
Decoherence and Standard Quantum Mechanics 264
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| 23. Schrödinger’s Cat, 269
How Information Physics Resolves the Cat Paradox 274
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| 24. The Arrow of Time, 277
The Thermodynamic Arrow 277; The Historical Arrow 281; The Radiation Arrow 282; The Cosmological Arrow 283
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| 25. Microscopic Irreversibility, 285
The Origin of Irreversibility 287; Detailed Balancing 290 |
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The Recurrence Problem, 293
Zermelo’s Paradox 293; The Extreme Improbability of Perfect Recurrence 295 |
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| 27. Emergence, 297
Emergence or Reduction? 297; History of the Idea of Emergence 298; Three Kinds of Information Emergence 302; Emergence in the Body 305; Emergence in the Brain 306; The Emergence of Immaterial Information Processing 306; The Emergence of Determinism 307; There Was a Time with No Determinism 308; Emergence Denied 309
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| 28. Origins of Life and Information, 311
History and Evolution in the Universe 312; The Origin of Information 316; Information in Biology 317; Biological Machines 319; Ribosomes 321; ATP Synthase 323; The Flagellum 324; Chaperones 326; Motive Power? 326;
Life, Love, and Death 327; Working Backwards in Time 327
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| Appendix A. Information, 331
Information in the Universe 334; Information and Entropy 342 |
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| Appendix B. Entropy and the Second Law, 345
Discrete Particles 345; The Second Law of Thermodynamics 349; Entropy Flows in the Universe 354; Positive and Negative Flows 356
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| Appendix C. Quantum Physics, 361
Basic Quantum Mechanics 366; The Principle of Superposition 367;
The Axiom of Measurement 368; The Projection Postulate 369; Dirac’s Three Polarizers 371; The Wonder and Mystery of the Oblique Polarizer 374;
The Quantum Physics Explanation 375; Einstein and Quantum Physics 376
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| Appendix D. Chance, 379
The Calculus of Probabilities 381; Chance and Free Will 392
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| Appendix E. Experience Recorder and Reproducer, 395
The Binding Problem 398; Speed and Power of the ERR 399; How the ERR Works 400; The ERR and Consciousness 401; Four “Levels” of the ERR 403; What It’s Like To Be A... 404; Mental States? 405; Summary 406
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| Appendix F. The Cosmic Creation Process, 409
The Fundamental Question of Information Philosophy 409; The Two Steps in Cosmic Creation 411; The Flatness Problem in Cosmology 414; The Problem of Missing Mass 416; The Horizon Problem 417
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| Appendix G. Biosemiotics, 419
Will Biologists Accept Biosemiotics? 420
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| Bibliography, 423
Arrow of Time 423; Biology 423; Chance 424; Consciousness 424; Cosmology 424; Decoherence 425; Einstein 425; Emergence 426; Entanglement 426; Epistemology 426; Free Will 427; Information in Biology 428; Information 428; Meaning 428; Metaphysics 429; Mind 429; Origin of Life 431; Philosophy 432; Physics 432; Psychology 433; Quantum Mechanics 434; Theology 435; Value 435
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| Index, 437
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Philosophers can 
