>[!idea] The spirit of science is to observe a phenomenon and deconstruct it. "It from bit" is a [summarization](https://philpapers.org/archive/WHEIPQ.pdf) by John Archibald Wheeler of how reality is composed of measurements in the form of binary propositions. It is a means of describing a [crisp formalism](https://opentheory.net/2022/04/it-from-bit-revisited/) approach to phenomena. Anything with a clearly defined mathematic structure can be described as bits. >[!quote] John Archibald Wheeler >...every physical quantity, every **it**, derives its ultimate significance from bits, binary yes-or-no indications, a conclusion which we epitomize in the phrase, it from bit. Wheeler makes four conclusion about the popular nature of being, based on the scientific consensus at the time of presentation: 1) The universe is not giant machine ruled by a set of purely physical laws. Events cannot be forecast by an all-predicting intellect. 2) Space, [[Types of Time|time]], or the spacetime continuum as described by general relativity do not exist beyond the atomic scale. 3) Wave functions as described by quantum mechanics, by the necessity of [[The uncertainty principle]], conceal information that makes the universe knowable at the quantum scale. Such equations are "mere continuum idealizations." 4) The most basic element of physics is the interaction between observer and phenomenon; the posing of a question and the results of an experiment. >It from bit symbolizes the idea that every item of the physical world has at bottom -- at [[Turtles All the Way Down|a very deep bottom]], in most instances -- an immaterial source and explanation; that **what we call reality arises in the last analysis from the posing of yes-no questions and the registering of equipment-evoked responses**; in short, that **all things physical are information-theoretic in origin and this is a [[Observer-participancy|participatory universe]].** We might consider "it from bit" as a counter-proposal to [[interbeing]]. Life is not practically lived within a paradigm of continuous transformation. We can sense this continuum of being intellectually but it becomes impossible to act. We use binaries to make choices by defining properties of existence. We create an either/or proposition, a "[[bit]]," and apply its outcome to our perception of reality. This is a [[ecological rationality|heuristic]] for understanding [logic](https://aeon.co/essays/more-than-argument-logic-is-the-very-structure-of-reality) as a structuring principle. We encounter matter both [[Phenomenology|phenomenologically]] and [[cognition|cognitively]]. Logic is how we apply our experience of matter to its transformation. A tree becomes a log. A log becomes a post. A post becomes a house. A house becomes a home. All of these words [[Words are Quanta|package]] logic and process into distinct entities that can be evaluated, deconstructed, and reconstructed. This theory helps describe how [[paradigms]] emerge from both structure and substance.