Skip to main content

Where are the bits in atoms? A perspective on the physical origin and evolutionary nature of information

Save to calendar

Feb 13

Date and time: 13 February 2025, 14:30 – 15:30 CET
Speaker: Wouter van der Wijngaart, KTH
Title: Where are the bits in atoms? A perspective on the physical origin and evolutionary nature of information

Where: Digital Futures hub, Osquars Backe 5, floor 2 at KTH main campus OR Zoom
Directions: https://www.digitalfutures.kth.se/contact/how-to-get-here/
OR
Zoom: https://kth-se.zoom.us/j/69560887455

Host: Martina Scolamiero, scola@kth.se

Abstract: Information is a structural pattern that represents another structural pattern. In this talk, I hypothesise that modelling of structure creation through causal sets can elucidate the natural origin, evolution and ontology of information.

Observations of the formation of complex physical structures lead me to propose the core hypothesis that information can be defined as, or equates to, the hereditary agent of evolutionary processes—a concept with potential implications across biology, culture, civilization, and beyond.

Bio: Wouter van der Wijngaart has degrees in Electrotechnical Engineering (MSc), Philosophic Academy, and Mathematics Education (KU Leuven, 1996) and a PhD in microsystem technology (KTH, 2002). He has been a Full Professor in Micro and Nanosystems at KTH since 2010.