Researchers have long suspected a connection between information and the physical universe, with various paradoxes and thought experiments used to explore how or why information could be encoded in physical matter. The digital age propelled this field of study, suggesting that solving these research questions could have tangible applications across multiple branches of physics and computing.
In AIP Advances, a University of Portsmouth researcher attempts to shed light on exactly how much of this information is out there and presents a numerical estimate for the amount of encoded information in all the visible matter in the universe—approximately 6 times 10 to the power of 80 bits of information. While not the first estimate of its kind, this study's approach relies on information theory.
[...] To produce the estimate, the author used Shannon's information theory to quantify the amount of information encoded in each elementary particle in the observable universe as 1.509 bits of information. Mathematician Claude Shannon, called the Father of the Digital Age because of his work in information theory, defined this method for quantifying information in 1948.
Does this take into account all the junk mail and spam?
(Score: 2) by EJ on Tuesday October 19 2021, @11:45PM (2 children)
I think it kind of depends on the resolution of your camera and monitor. It's really easy to quantify the amount of information in the visible universe just by the RGB depth of and resolution of your display. If you can't see the information, it isn't there. Heisenberg taught us that long ago.
(Score: 1) by fustakrakich on Wednesday October 20 2021, @12:15AM (1 child)
To the center of the pull of gravity go, and find your planet you will.
I vaguely remember reading something about this being the number of atoms in the universe for a long time.. How many bits of info are there in an atom?
La politica e i criminali sono la stessa cosa..
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 20 2021, @04:37AM
It depends on the atom. Heavier elements should be able to hold more information than lighter ones.
(Score: 1, Informative) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 20 2021, @12:23AM
A horse is a horse, of course, of course,
And no one can talk to a horse of course
That is, of course, unless the horse is the famous Mr. Ed.
Go right to the source and ask the horse
He'll give you the answer that you'll endorse.
He's always on a steady course.
Talk to Mr. Ed.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 20 2021, @01:39AM
Hey and what about encoding on Dark Mater once with figure that one out?
or is
Encoding on elementary particles all anyone will ever need?
(Score: 1, Funny) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 20 2021, @02:01AM (1 child)
About 42 LoCs, approximately?
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 20 2021, @10:37PM
The proper scientific quantification is "crapton".
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 20 2021, @04:35AM
6*10^80 is between 268 and 269 bits. This means that a 256 bit key isn't big enough to hash the visible universe and collisions should be expected.
(Score: 2) by seeprime on Wednesday October 20 2021, @07:10PM (2 children)
It's about as useful as "how many angels can dance on the head of a pin". No real science, just guesstimates.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 20 2021, @09:54PM
Entropy density is known to be an important factor in how quantum mechanics interacts with general relativity, but the actual limits and effects are not well understood. This report gives us another data point, and a basis for better analysis in the future.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 20 2021, @10:19PM
Lots of real science starts with guesstimates. Epicycles were real science yet totally bonkers wrong.
(Score: 2) by maxwell demon on Wednesday October 20 2021, @07:33PM
Junk mail and spam are highly repetitive, and therefore have a negligible amount of information.
The Tao of math: The numbers you can count are not the real numbers.
(Score: 0) by Anonymous Coward on Wednesday October 20 2021, @10:39PM
Should have been included in the write-up: