Pragmatic Information in Quantum Mechanics

Abstract

An objective definition of pragmatic information and the consideration of recent results about information processing in the human brain can help overcome some traditional difficulties with the interpretation of quantum mechanics. Rather than attempting to define information ab initio, I introduce the concept of interaction between material bodies as a primary concept. Two distinct categories can be identified: 1) Interactions which can always be reduced to a superposition of physical interactions (forces) between elementary constituents; 2) Interactions between complex bodies which cannot be reduced to a superposition of interactions between parts, and in which patterns and forms (in space and/or time) play the determining role. Pragmatic information is then defined as the correspondence between a given pattern and the ensuing pattern-specific change. I will show that pragmatic information is a biological concept that plays no active role in the purely physical domain; it only does so when a living organism intervenes. The consequences for the foundations of both classical and quantum physics are important and will be discussed in detail. Since by its very definition pragmatic information (the one our brain uses to represent, think about and react to the outside world)cannot operate in the quantum domain, it is advisable to refrain from using it in our mental representation of what is happening 'inside' a quantum system. Although the theoretical framework developed for quantum mechanics handles mathematical entities specifically attributed to a quantum system, the only truly pragmatic information it can provide relates to macroscopic effects on the environment (natural, or artificial as in a measurement instrument) with which the system interacts.