*3.1. InformationC Exists Objectively*

If information is a physical phenomenon, it exists objectively. In other words, it has ontological objectivity [68]. Objectivity, in this context, refers to how the phenomenon in question exists independently of an observing agent, much like how rocks exist on the dark side of the Moon even though we cannot see them from Earth, or how the Earth existed for eons before sentient beings appeared.

Claiming that informationC is a physical phenomenon is both necessary and obvious if we are to perceive information as part of the physical world. If this is the case, as we presume it is,

<sup>10</sup> Several authors explain the place of physical information in nature and propose a sort of matter–energy- information complex. As a conjecture, this proposal can remain, but as a scientific or even philosophical claim, it lacks enough specificity.

<sup>11</sup> The analogy of thermodynamic entropy may help here: Entropy itself is an abstract concept, but it refers to a real, physical phenomenon that can be measured, observed, and so on. The same is true of informationC: The concept is abstract, but it denotes a real physical phenomenon with specific properties.

<sup>12</sup> The common meaning of chaos should not be confused, as is often the case, with the meaning of chaos in nature. Chaos in nature (or what we call chaotic phenomena) is actually highly organized dynamic phenomena; entropy (incorrectly) that is often associated with chaos. It is incorrect to claim that these two phenomena are unstructured or disorganized. Nature is never disorganized—it is just the way it is. It only appears disorganized to us.

this information must be subject to the laws that govern the physical realm, although we are not exactly sure which laws apply to informationC (e.g., the law of gravity, the law of conservation of energy, the three laws of thermodynamics, the theory of general relativity, or other ye<sup>t</sup> unknown laws for information)13.

The claim that information has a physical nature has been voiced in several studies. Von Weizsäcker claims that information has an "objective character," adding that information is related to the combination and composition of elementary particles. Heller, meanwhile, claims that information may be regarded as a material of the world, with the word "material" being used here in the sense of some physical substance from which things can be made, although Heller does not clarify synonyms like substance, stu ff, or medium. Dodig Crnkovic, meanwhile, claims that information is an ontologically fundamental entity of physical reality, while Hidalgo proposes that what remains after separating meaning from meaningful information is just a physical phenomenon. Devlin claims that information is a part of reality that is on par with energy and matter, and Mynarski makes a similar claim. In a similar vein, Stonier claims that information has a physical reality, so it is an intrinsic feature of the universe. Finally, Seife claims that the world is composed of matter, energy, and information. In many other studies [9], the complex of matter, energy, and information is considered to be foundational in nature.<sup>14</sup>
