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>Quantum theorist John Wheeler’s “it from bit” hypothesis anticipated ongoing speculation that consciousness is fundamental to reality Flagged for pseudoscienc

>Quantum theorist John Wheeler’s “it from bit” hypothesis anticipated ongoing speculation that consciousness is fundamental to reality Flagged for pseudoscience.

akvadrako 8y ago
John Wheeler is a highly respected physicist and his “it from bit” is still referenced in many papers every year. It's speculative and still not rigidly defined, but definitely not pseudoscience.
- eli_gottlieb 8y ago
  Wheeler is a fine physicist. Claiming "consciousness is fundamental to reality" is not.
  - akvadrako 8y ago
    I personally wouldn’t characterize it from bit that way, but it’s not as crazy as it seems. We know that subjective reality exists because we directly experience it. But the evidence for an objective reality is shaky at best. If it exists it isn’t anything like the classical world we inhabit - that has been proven multiple times over.
    - eli_gottlieb 8y ago
      >We know that subjective reality exists because we directly experience it. But the evidence for an objective reality is shaky at best. Objective reality can kill me, so I'd consider that rather less shaky than the images that appear when I sleep.
dang 8y ago
The article is obviously on topic for HN. Accounts that flag like this eventually lose flagging privileges.
- laumars 8y ago
  Theres so much abuse of flagging and downvoting on this forum that I honestly think it does more damage to the community than the benefits it's supposed to bring. And that's even with all the heuristics you use to catch abuse. So often you see unpopular yet perfectly valid (sometimes even technically correct) comments voted into oblivion and then whole arguements arise because if it. Sometimes technically incorrect comments based on popular myths deserve "air time" if they're followed by an intelligent rebuttal, but those comments get lost in the ether meaning nobody learns anything. It just feels there is so much lost content and bad will generated by the current state of peer moderation. I say this as someone who has a very healthy "karma" so please dont take this as a whinge post. More just my opinion and observations.

>Quantum theorist John Wheeler’s “it from bit” hypothesis anticipated ongoing speculation that consciousness is fundamental to reality Flagged for pseudoscience.

akvadrako 8y ago

John Wheeler is a highly respected physicist and his “it from bit” is still referenced in many papers every year. It's speculative and still not rigidly defined, but definitely not pseudoscience.

eli_gottlieb 8y ago
Wheeler is a fine physicist. Claiming "consciousness is fundamental to reality" is not.
- akvadrako 8y ago
  I personally wouldn’t characterize it from bit that way, but it’s not as crazy as it seems. We know that subjective reality exists because we directly experience it. But the evidence for an objective reality is shaky at best. If it exists it isn’t anything like the classical world we inhabit - that has been proven multiple times over.
  - eli_gottlieb 8y ago
    >We know that subjective reality exists because we directly experience it. But the evidence for an objective reality is shaky at best. Objective reality can kill me, so I'd consider that rather less shaky than the images that appear when I sleep.

dang 8y ago

The article is obviously on topic for HN. Accounts that flag like this eventually lose flagging privileges.

laumars 8y ago
Theres so much abuse of flagging and downvoting on this forum that I honestly think it does more damage to the community than the benefits it's supposed to bring. And that's even with all the heuristics you use to catch abuse. So often you see unpopular yet perfectly valid (sometimes even technically correct) comments voted into oblivion and then whole arguements arise because if it. Sometimes technically incorrect comments based on popular myths deserve "air time" if they're followed by an intelligent rebuttal, but those comments get lost in the ether meaning nobody learns anything. It just feels there is so much lost content and bad will generated by the current state of peer moderation. I say this as someone who has a very healthy "karma" so please dont take this as a whinge post. More just my opinion and observations.