Information and the Nature of Reality:
From Physics to Metaphysics
Paul Davies and Niels Henrik Gregersen, eds.
Cambridge University Press, 2010; $30.00 (hardcover).
Are matter and energy both manifestations of information? This intriguing and seemingly farfetched
idea may be ahead of its time or it may be simply false. Information and the Nature of Reality explores the issue in a series of essays from an illustrious cast of senior academics with backgrounds
ranging from theoretical physics, through molecular biology, to philosophy and theology. While
the central concept is credible at some level, the contributions are devoid of mathematics, relying
only on logical arguments. The essays vary widely in tone and degree of realism and they do not
connect much with each other. Rather, they seem like stepping stones from a beginning rooted in
theoretical physics to a grand finale unifying God and spiritual bodies with information.
The essays were originally prepared for a conference sponsored by the Templeton Foundation
in Copenhagen in 2006. The Foundation aims to bring together scientists and theologians to address what it calls the “big questions of human purpose and ultimate reality.”
Review by Bogdan Hoanca, a professor of management information systems at the University of Alaska
Anchorage, U.S.A.
The opinions expressed in the book review section are those of the reviewer and do not necessarily reflect those of
OPN or OSA.
