Abstract:
Rational agents acting as observers use “knowables” to construct a vision of the outside world.
Thereby, they are bound by the information exchanged with what they consider as objects. The
cartesian cut or, in modern terminology, the interface mediating this exchange, is again a construction.
It serves as a “scaffolding,” an intermediate construction capable of providing the necessary
conceptual means.
An attempt is made to formalize the interface, in particular the quantum interface and quantum
measurements, by a symbolic information exchange. A principle of conservation of information is
reviewed and a measure of information flux through the interface is proposed.
We cope with the question of why observers usually experience irreversibility in measurement
processes if the evolution is reversible, i.e., one-to-one. And why should there be any meaningful
concept of classical information if there is merely quantum information to begin with? We take the
position here that the concept of irreversible measurement is no deep principle but originates in the
practical inability to reconstruct a quantum state of the object.
Many issues raised apply also to the quantum’s natural double, virtual reality.
An experiment is proposed to test the conjecture that the self is transcendent.