The Power of Uncertainty

Uncertainty is the force that drives the evolution of reality as we know it – that is the universe of objects we can see, feel and measure. We call the evolution “change”. It can be gradual or precipitous, and involves a symbiotic relationship between uncertainty and certainty; instability and stability.

Reality depends, and always has, on information. So, which came first, information or reality?

The Moment of Truth
In that instant after the Big Bang there was nothing but a meaningless primordial soup of incomprehensibly small vibrating loops of energy called strings.

As is argued in a recent New Scientist article, at that moment when time began, there was only information in the form of energy. There was no matter, and maximum information, maximum entropy, and maximum uncertainty prevailed.

Without structures to define it, reality as we experience it did not exist.

Then the physical universe began structuring itself. Eric Jantsch in his 1984 book The Self-Organizing Universe describes the evolution. Fundamental physical forces acted to reduce uncertainty. Points of information, or strings, clumped into quantum particles. Reality, as we know it, began to emerge. Quantum particles formed into atoms. Atoms formed molecules. And so on, until macro inorganic and organic structures appeared – galaxies, stars, planets, mountains, rivers, trees, people. Finally, social structures formed to further reduce uncertainty – families, tribes, cultures, villages, cities, nations, shops, factories, corporations.

Meaning came with reality. Fact as truth came with meaning.

Information was lost, but uncertainty was reduced. Time became the operator. The self-organizing principles of chaos theory held.

First a slight, but relevant diversion.

A Theory of Everything
The emphasis in Janstch's book is on chaos theory and a rationale for complexity. However, implicit in the description is the need for a unifying “theory of everything”. That is, an explanation that blends relativity, quantum mechanics and general thermodynamics. Brian Greene provides this in his book on string theory, The Elegant Universe.

It is stellar-mass black holes that have thrown relativity and quantum mechanics a curve. These black holes are objects in our universe that exercise a gravitational effect so out of proportion to their size – zero volume and infinite density - that not even photons can break away. Both relativity and quantum mechanics should hold.

Relativity describes gravity and the behavior of large objects as predictable. Quantum mechanics describes the behavior of very small objects as random and unpredictable. Since one description contradicts the other, Einstein was right and a one-size-fits all theory is an imperative. String theory is the latest and most promising attempt by physicists at a unified theory.

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