Physical Relationships Among Matter, Energy and Informationy

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Systems Research and Behavioral Science Syst. Res. 24,369^372(2007) Published online inWiley InterScience (www.interscience.wiley.com) DOI:10.1002/sres.761

& Notes and Insights Physical Relationships Among Matter, Energy and Informationy

Stuart A. Umpleby* Department of Management, The George Washington University, Washington, DC, USA

‘Information is the difference that makes a The ancient Greeks believed that the constituents difference’. Gregory Bateson of the universe were earth, air, fire and water. (Aristotle, 1952) The Chinese believed that the basic elements were metal, wood, water, fire and ABSTRACT earth. (Gao, 1985) Currently physicists empha- size space and time. General systems theorists General systems theorists often refer to matter, often speak of matter, energy and information as energy and information as fundamental fundamental categories. For example Miller’s categories. The three concepts—matter, energy (1978) living systems theory is based on the idea and information—are related through scientific that cells, organs, organisms, groups, corpor- laws. Matter and energy relations are more ations, nations and supranational organizations thoroughly understood than relations involving all process matter, energy and information. In information. At the level of data or signal biological systems (e.g. cells, organs and organ- ‘‘difference’’ is suggested as a more elementary isms) matter and energy are so closely related term than ‘‘information’’. that they are often treated as one entity—matter/ energy. A social organization such as a corpor- Keywords: information, Bremerman’s Limit ation processes matter (e.g. by transforming raw matter-energy relationship, Planck’s constant materials into finished products), energy (includ- ing the fuel and electricity needed to operate machines and heat buildings) and information BASIC ENTITIES AND THE (e.g. customer orders, advertising messages and RELATIONSHIPS AMONG THEM accounting records). Although matter and energy have been the At least two previous civilizations ventured to subject of scientific investigation for several define the basic building blocks of the universe. hundred years, a scientific conception of information is relatively new. A variety of definitions * Correspondence to: S. A. Umpleby, Department of Management of information have been proposed. Shannon and Science, The George Washington University, Washington, DC 20052, USA. Weaver (1949) defined information as a reduction E-mail: [email protected] of uncertainty. Bateson (1972) defined infor- yPublished in Cybernetics and Systems ’04, Robert Trappl (ed.). Austrian Society for Cybernetic Studies, Vienna: 2004. mation as ‘that which changes us’ or ‘the

Received 10 August 2004 Copyright # 2007 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd. Accepted 15 September 2005 NOTES AND INSIGHTS Syst. Res. difference that makes a difference’. A crucial taneously fixes the momentum and the position point is that information, unlike matter and of a particle with unlimited precision, but only energy, is a function of the observer (von within a momentum-position range where Foerster, 2003). For example, the same message Planck’s constant defines the limit of how precise may have different meanings for different an experiment can be. Hence, h DmDp. people. Although information requires the per- Szilard (1929) showed that there is a relation- ception of a difference, the difference will require ship between information and energy. Szilard a matter or energy carrier (e.g. a page in a book or recognized that Maxwell’s demon would require sound waves in air). In addition, cognition information in order to sort high and low energy requires a nervous system. particles. He demonstrated that the act of In 1967, at a panel discussion at the University measuring the velocity of gas molecules would of Illinois I heard Ross Ashby mention Bremer- produce more entropy than the sorting process mann’s limit. Bremermann’s limit states a would remove. relationship between matter and information. Bremermann (1962, 1965) suggested that there A relationship between matter and energy had is an upper bound on the rate at which symbols been proposed by Einstein (1905). A connection can be processed by matter. They can be between energy and information had been processed at speeds not exceeding Bremer- described by Szilard (1929). With a connection mann’s limit of 1047 bits/gram/s. Bremermann’s established between matter and information, it limit is derived from the equations E ¼ mc2 and appeared that the contributions of Einstein, E ¼ hf, when one photon is considered equivalent Szilard and Bremermann imply that matter, to one bit. (Ashby, 1968) That is, combining the energy and information, on the level of atoms, relationship between matter and energy with a are related. See Figure 1. relationship between energy and information How are these basic categories—matter, yields a new relationship between matter and energy and information—related? Einstein information, at least at the atomic level. Ashby (1905) presented a relationship between matter used Bremermann’s limit in pointing out the and energy: E ¼ mc2. Indeed, physicists now dramatic physical impossibility of some pattern regard matter as another form of energy. recognition strategies used in the early days of Around 1900, Planck (1949) observed that artificial intelligence. He urged more attention to electromagnetic energy is not emitted over a how the human brain functions. continuous range but rather in bundles or quanta, If we consider all the possible carriers of the energies of which are proportional to the information, it is clear that the relationship frequency of the radiation. The expression E ¼ hf between matter and signal is not continuous. means that the energy of a photon is proportional The relationship depends on the material in to its frequency. The constant h is called Planck’s which a pattern appears. That is, a pattern or set constant. Planck’s constant also appears in the of differences can be observed at the atomic level equation that defines the uncertainty in observing (where Bremermann’s limit applies), in mol- subatomic particles. The uncertainty principle ecules (DNA), cells (neurons), organs (the brain), formulated by Heisenberg (1930) states that an groups (norms) and society (culture). experiment cannot be devised which simul-

FROM ‘INFORMATION’ TO ‘DIFFERENCE’

An early formulation of the ideas in this paper used the term ‘information’. (Umpleby, 1975) Indeed the works of Szilard and Bremermann also use the term ‘information’. But because of the complexities introduced by having to specify Figure 1. A triangle of relationships one or more observers, the term ‘information’ is

Copyright 2007 JohnWiley & Sons,Ltd. Syst. Res.24, 369^372 (2007) DOI:10.1002/sres 370 S. A. Umpleby Syst. Res. NOTES AND INSIGHTS not an elementary concept. ‘Difference’ denotes mation. Moreover, the triangle in Figure 1 is the elementary building block of data or signal or consistent with the idea that observers and the information. Hence, when dealing with physical distinctions they make are the means whereby the foundations, I believe it is preferable to speak in substance of the universe becomes aware of itself. terms of matter, energy and difference. To define terms, a ‘difference‘ is a physical entity that can be noted by an observer. Drawing a ‘distinction‘ ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS is a purposeful act that creates two categories. Scientists today understand phenomena The development of these ideas benefited from related to matter and energy more thoroughly conversations with Stafford Beer, Philip Owen, than phenomena related to information. Perhaps Heinz von Foerster and C. Sharp Cook. reflecting on the physical relationships among matter, energy and information can help natural scientists and social scientists understand better REFERENCES the nature of their disciplines. Efforts to apply the methods of the natural sciences to social systems Aristotle. 1952. Physics, Book II, Chapter 1. In The Great have led some people to conclude that matter and Books. Encyclopedia Britannica: Chicago. energy relationships are the appropriate subjects Ashby WR. 1968. Some Consequences of Bremer- of attention for social scientists. However, in mann’s Limit for Information-processing Systems. social systems, distinctions are essential. Bateson In Cybernetic Problems in Bionics, Hans Oestreicher, (1972) made this point as follows: Darrell Moore (eds). Gordon and Breach: New York; 69–79. Reprinted in R.C. Conant (ed.). Mechanisms of (my colleagues in the behavioral sciences) Intelligence: Ross Ashby’s Writings on Cybernetics. have tried to build the bridge to the wrong half Intersystems Publishers, 1981. Bateson G. 1972. Steps to an Ecology of Mind. Ballantine: of the ancient dichotomy between form and New York; xxv–xxvi. substance. The conservative laws for energy Bremermann HJ. 1962. Optimization through Evol- and matter concern substance rather than ution and Re-combination. In Self-Organizing Sys- form. But mental process, ideas, communi- tems, Yovits M.C, Jacobi G.T, Goldstein G.D, (eds). cation, organization, differentiation, pattern Spartan Books: Washington, DC; 93–106. Bremermann HJ. 1965. Quantum Noise and Infor- and so on, are matters of form rather than mation. In Fifth Berkeley Symposium on Mathematical substance. Within the body of fundamentals, Statistics and Probability. University of California that half which deals with form has been Press: Berkeley, CA. dramatically enriched in the last 30 years by Einstein A. 1905. Ist die Tragheit eines Korpers von the discoveries of cybernetics and systems seinem Energieinhalt abhangig? In Annalen der Phy- sik. See also Lincoln Barnett, The Universe and Dr. theory. Einstein, 2nd revised edition. W. Sloane Associates: New York, 1950. Gao M. 1985. Monkey’s Conversion. Foreign Languages Press: Beijing. CONCLUSION Heisenberg W. 1930. The Physical Principles of Quantum Theory. Dover Publications: New York. As civilization has progressed from agricultural Miller JG. 1978. Living Systems. McGraw-Hill: New societies to industrial societies to post-industrial York. Planck M. 1949. Scientific Autobiography and Other societies, there has been a shift of attention from Papers (English translation). Greenwood Press: matter to energy to information. No doubt our New York. scientific knowledge of information will improve Shannon C, Weaver W. 1949. The Mathematical Theory of as information societies continue to develop. This Communication. University of Illinois Press: Urbana, article points out that signals, distinctions, data, IL. Szilard Leo. 1929. Uber die Entropieverminderung in information and communication depend upon einem thermodynamischen System bei Eingriffen matter and energy and that a physical difference is intelligenter Wesen. Zeits. Physik 53: 840–856. Eng- a more elementary phenomenon than infor- lish translation: On the Decrease of Entropy in a

Thermodynamic System by the Intervention of Intel- Umpleby S. 1975. Some Applications of Cybernetics to ligent Beings. Behavioral Science, 9:301–310 (1964). Social Systems PhD. Dissertation, University of Illi- Both versions are reprinted in The Collected Works nois at Urbana-Champaign; 6–10. of Leo Szilard: Scientiﬁc Papers, Bernard T. Feld and von Foerster H. 2003. On Constructing a Reality. Gertrud Weiss Szilard (eds). Cambridge, MA: MIT Originally published in 1974. Reprinted in Under- Press, 1972. standing Understanding. New York: Springer.