Information, Time and the Human Mind

Using a double slit gedankenexperiment it is shown that the transmission of the information from the photon to the detector takes the time span delta t = λ/c and Planck’s formula for the energy of the photon can be interpreted as Planck’s constant h multiplied by the elementary information flux (1bit) c/λ. The time span was determined by an observer in the macroscopic world. For the photon, however, time does not flow and space is shrunk to zero.

For the discussion of time in quantum physical measurements these two viewpoints have to be distinguished. We may describe the photon as the elementary information unit in a world independent of time and space. The world of the photon is evidence for the existence of the world of mathematical concepts which is independent of time and space.

When the information is transmitted from the world of the photon to the world of the detector it is absorbed and the loss of 1 bit information causes an increase of energy in the system. For complex information the hypothesis of an extended energy conservation law is formulated. An experimental test of the hypothetical equivalence of energy and information flux is necessary as a next step on the way which could lead to a better understanding of consciousness as well as to a quantitative theory of information.