2013/06/03 by L. Foschini, Luigi Foschini, Foschini, Luigi · 1 citation
Arts and Humanities · Physics and Astronomy · Psychology · #FOS: Physical sciences #History and Philosophy of Physics (physics.hist-ph) #Philosophy and Theoretical Science #Philosophy, Science, and History #Wittgensteinian philosophy and applications #physics.hist-ph
paper · pdf · doi:10.48550/arxiv.1306.0545
6 pages, no figures. Essay for the 2013 FQXi Contest
arxiv created 2013/06/03 · openalex publication_date 2013/06/03 · arxiv updated 2013/06/04 · openalex created_date 2025/10/10 · openalex updated_date 2026/07/28
In his 1989 essay, John Archibald Wheeler has tried to answer the eternal question of existence. He did it by searching for links between information, physics, and quanta. The main concept emerging from his essay is that "every physical quantity, every it, derives its ultimate significance from bits, binary yes-or-no indications". This concept has been summarized in the catchphrase "it from bit". In the Wheeler's essay, it is possible to read several times the echoes of the philosophy of Niels Bohr. The Danish physicist has pointed out how the quantum and relativistic physics - forcing us to abandon the anchor of the visual reference of common sense - have imposed a greater attention to the language. Bohr did not deny the physical reality, but recognizes that there is always need of a language no matter what a person wants to do. To put it as Carlo Sini, language is the first toolbox that man has at hands to analyze the experience. It is not a thought translated into words, because to think is to operate with signs as reminded us by various philosophers from Leonardo da Vinci to Ludwig Wittgenstein. [...]