Considering the Role of Information Theory in Fundamental Physics - a podcast by MCMP Team

Chris Wüthrich (Geneva) gives a talk at the Workshop on "Why trust a Theory?" (7-9 December, 2015) titled "Considering the Role of Information Theory in Fundamental Physics". Abstract: Information theory presupposes the notion of an epistemic agent, such as a scientist or an idealized human. Despite that, information theory is increasingly invoked by physicists concerned with fundamental physics, physics at very high energies, or generally with the physics of situations in which even idealized epistemic agents cannot exist. In this talk, I shall try to determine the extent to which the application of information theory in those contexts is legitimate. I will illustrate my considerations using the case of black hole thermodynamics and Bekenstein's celebrated argument for his formula for the entropy of black holes. This example is particularly pertinent to the current workshop because it is widely accepted as 'empirical data' in notoriously deprived quantum gravity, even though the laws of black hole thermodynamics have so far evaded direct empirical confirmation.

Further episodes of MCMP

Further podcasts by MCMP Team

Website of MCMP Team