"So we are not trying to derive quantum theory, or any other existing law, from anything. Our proposal is that the status of information in physics is analogous

"So we are not trying to derive quantum theory, or any other existing law, from anything. Our proposal is that the status of information in physics is analogous to that of (say) energy: given the laws of motion of physical objects, neither the concept of energy nor the conservation law for the energy–momentum tensor is necessary for making any prediction from initial data, yet our understanding of the physical world would be radically incomplete without them. The conservation law explains some aspects of motion as consequences of a universal regularity in nature—which is why we expect as-yet-undiscovered laws of motion to conserve the energy–momentum tensor too. Different physical systems that conserve energy can have very different laws of motion, so we do not expect to derive new laws of motion from the universal conservation law. It is a principle—a law of physics that constrains other laws rather than the behaviour of physical objects directly. Likewise, our theory of information consists of proposed principles of physics that explain the regularities in physical systems that are associated with information, including quantum information. This theory also constitutes a framework, not dependent on quantum theory, in which information under a broad range of theories (including ‘post-quantum’ theories, or theories supporting hypercomputation) could be understood, provided that they obey the principles. None of the existing theories of information is adequate for any of these purposes."