Published on September 15, 2016.

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472 pages, 45 figures, bibliography, index. To request a review/examination copy, send an email with your philosophy department mailing address to bobdoyle@informationphilosopher.com.

Contents	Click to download chapter
Contents, vii
Preface, xi
1. Introduction, 3 How to Use this Book, 1; The New Ideas of Information Philosophy 4; The Three Worlds of Information Philosophy 9; Information Creation in the Material World 10; Information Creation in the Biological World 11; Information Creation in the World of Ideas 12; What Does Creation of Information Mean? 13
2. Metaphysics, 15 Possibility and Possible Worlds 22; Naming and Necessity 24; Actual Possibles 25; Actualism 28; Identity 30; Criteria 30; Coinciding Objects 33; Composition 38; Aristotle Essences 45; Why Modal Logic Is Not Metaphysics 47
3. Ontology, 55 The Metaphysicist’s Approach 56; Continuous or Discrete? 58; Meta-Ontology 61
4. Free Will, 63 The Two-Stage Model of Free Will 64; Neuroscientific Evidence for the Two-Stage Model 66; History of the Free Will Problem 69; The Standard Argument Against Free Will 74; Possible Worlds and Alternative Possibilities 76; Free Will and Creativity 77
5. Value, 79 An Information-based Moral Code? 84; A Minimum Moral/Political Message? 85; An Information-based Social Contract? 87; Information and Negative Entropy as Objective Values 89
6. Good and Evil, 91 Information (Negative Entropy) as Objective Good? 92; Evil 93; A Statistical Comparison with Societal Norms 95
7. God and Immortality, 97 No Creator, But There Was/Is A Creation 98; Theodicy (The Problem of Evil) 98; Omniscience and Omnipotence Contradictory? 98; The Ergod 99; The Problem of Immortality 100
8. Epistemology, 103 The History of Epistemology 104; The Search for Knowledge Turns Inward 109
9. Universals, 119 The One and the Many  122; Philosophical Triads 126; Three Sources for Authoritative Knowledge 128; Types of Triads 128; A Few Tetrads 129
10. The Problem of Induction, 131 Induction and the Scientific Method 137
11. The Problem of Meaning, 139 Meaning in the Theory of Information 142
12 Mind, 147 The Scandal in Psychology 147; Mind as Immaterial Information 148; Information Evolves to Become Mind 149; An Information Mind Model 150
13. Mind-Body Problem, 155 Interactionists 156; The Mind-Brain Identity Theory 158; Eliminative Materialism 159; Mind/Body and the ERR 163
14. Consciousness, 165 The Binding Problem 168; Four “Levels” of Consciousness 170
15. Self and Other Minds, 171 Mind Over Matter? 172; The Problem of Other Minds 173
16. Mental Causation, 177 The Problem of Mental Causation according to Kim 179; The Emergence of Life from Matter and Mind from Life 179; Ribosomes Select Randomly Moving Amino Acids  181; Ion Pumps in Neurons Select Individual Atoms  183; Information Solves the Problem of Mental Causation. 185; “Bottom-up” Physical Processes Are Not Deterministic 186; Molecular Machines 187
17. The Information Interpretation of Quantum Mechanics, 189 The “Possibilities Function” 194; Possibilities and Information Theory 196; Other Interpretations of Quantum Mechanics 198
18. The Measurement Problem, 201 Von Neumann’s Two Processes 205; Designing a Quantum Measurement Apparatus 207; An Irreversible Example of Process 1 208; The Boundary between the Classical and Quantum Worlds 210; The Role of the Conscious Observer 211; Three Essential Steps in a “Measurement” and “Observation” 214; Quantum Collapses Can Produce New Information 215
19. Determinism, 217 Indeterminism 219; Determination 220; The Emergence of Determinism 222; The History of Determinism 222
20. Collapse of the Wave Function, 225 What is the Wave Function? 225; Information Physics Explains the Two-Slit Experiment 227; Where Is The Information About Probabilities Embodied? 230
21. Entanglement, 233 Einstein’s Discovery of Nonlocality and Nonseparability 235; The Importance of Conservation Laws in Entanglement 240; Can a Special Frame Resolve the EPR Paradox? 242; Do We Need Superdeterminism? 245; EPR “Loopholes” and Free Will 246
22. Decoherence, 249 The Decoherence Program 251; The Measurement Process 257; The Measurement Problem 259; What Decoherence Gets Right 261; What Decoherence Gets Wrong 263; Quantum Interactions Do Not Create Lasting Information 263; The Transition from Quantum to Classical World 263; Decoherence and Standard Quantum Mechanics 264
23. Schrödinger’s Cat, 269 How Information Physics Resolves the Cat Paradox 274
24. The Arrow of Time, 277 The Thermodynamic Arrow 277; The Historical Arrow 281; The Radiation Arrow 282; The Cosmological Arrow 283
25. Microscopic Irreversibility, 285 The Origin of Irreversibility 287; Detailed Balancing 290
26. The Recurrence Problem, 293 Zermelo’s Paradox 293; The Extreme Improbability of Perfect Recurrence 295
27. Emergence, 297 Emergence or Reduction? 297; History of the Idea of Emergence 298; Three Kinds of Information Emergence 302; Emergence in the Body 305; Emergence in the Brain 306; The Emergence of Immaterial Information Processing 306; The Emergence of Determinism 307; There Was a Time with No Determinism 308; Emergence Denied 309
28. Origins of Life and Information, 311 History and Evolution in the Universe 312; The Origin of Information 316; Information in Biology  317; Biological Machines 319; Ribosomes 321; ATP Synthase 323; The Flagellum 324; Chaperones 326; Motive Power? 326; Life, Love, and Death 327; Working Backwards in Time 327
Appendix A. Information, 331 Information in the Universe 334; Information and Entropy 342
Appendix B. Entropy and the Second Law, 345 Discrete Particles 345; The Second Law of Thermodynamics 349; Entropy Flows in the Universe 354; Positive and Negative Flows 356
Appendix C. Quantum Physics, 361 Basic Quantum Mechanics 366; The Principle of Superposition 367; The Axiom of Measurement 368; The Projection Postulate 369; Dirac’s Three Polarizers 371; The Wonder and Mystery of the Oblique Polarizer 374; The Quantum Physics Explanation 375; Einstein and Quantum Physics 376
Appendix D. Chance, 379 The Calculus of Probabilities 381; Chance and Free Will 392
Appendix E. Experience Recorder and Reproducer, 395 The Binding Problem 398; Speed and Power of the ERR 399; How the ERR Works 400; The ERR and Consciousness 401; Four “Levels” of the ERR 403; What It’s Like To Be A... 404; Mental States? 405; Summary 406
Appendix F. The Cosmic Creation Process, 409 The Fundamental Question of Information Philosophy 409; The Two Steps in Cosmic Creation 411; The Flatness Problem in Cosmology 414; The Problem of Missing Mass 416; The Horizon Problem 417
Appendix G. Biosemiotics, 419 Will Biologists Accept Biosemiotics? 420
Bibliography, 423 Arrow of Time 423; Biology 423; Chance 424; Consciousness 424; Cosmology 424; Decoherence 425; Einstein 425; Emergence 426; Entanglement 426; Epistemology 426; Free Will 427; Information in Biology 428; Information 428; Meaning 428; Metaphysics 429; Mind 429; Origin of Life 431; Philosophy 432; Physics 432; Psychology 433; Quantum Mechanics 434; Theology 435; Value 435
Index, 437

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