Information and the Human Condition


A Speculative Essay by Kenny Pearce



Note: This essay was originally written several years ago. It was edited slightly after I took an introductory philosophy class and discovered that I had consistently used the word "fallacy" when I actually meant "falsity". I have now taken a class specifically in metaphysics and am doing some more extensive editing. The sole purpose of these edits is to express myself more effectively. My position has not changed.

Note 2 (3/18/04): This was written and the first revision made long before I actually read George Berkeley. After reading his writing, any significance this has is only in the fact that it was written before I read his superior formulation of a very similar but overall more feasible and better thought out view. No further revision will be made, but I may write a completely new paper on my metaphysics over the summer.


In the modern age, information is becoming increasingly important in our world. Many inventions, from the printing press, to the computer, to the Internet, have facilitated quick and efficient sharing of information. The First Amendment to the U.S. Constitution guarantees the right to exchange information freely. Clearly information has become very important to modern man, but just how important? I contend that, in accordance with George Berkeley's philosophy of idealism, information is now, and always has been, the only thing which is "real" in our universe.

In order to defend this idea, we must first make an attempt to define "reality". I put forth the claim that there is no objective reality. Instead, I theorize that there is a separate subjective reality attached to each and every self-aware being in the universe (the universe being the sum of all realities). I further conjecture that each of these realities is adapted from the subjective reality of a single, omnipotent, original self-aware being: God. If it pleases the reader, he may think of the reality attached to God as being very similar to the concept of an objective reality, as all other realities are affected by it (if anyone would challenge this, on the grounds that many do not recognize the authority of God, let him consider the way certain things, such as gravity or the physical placement of objects, are recognized by nearly all realities).

Having been created in the likeness of God, it is possible for a self-aware being to create a reality of his own. However, other intelligences differ from God in that their realities have little or no effect on other realities. Additionally, for each and every intelligence there are certain facets of God's reality which cannot be escaped; these differ from one entity to the next. As an example, some people (we keep them in asylums) live in a subjective reality in which there is no gravity, while others find this particular fact about God's reality to be inescapable.

Unlike Berkeley, I do not think that individual souls exist independently. Souls, like physical objects, are governed by Berkeley's rule "to be is to be perceived". God is the one and only exception to this rule. Lesser beings cannot perceive souls (I have no way of knowing that you are an actual human being with a soul and not merely a very cleverly constructed android), hence the existence of all souls is dependent upon God's perceiving them.

In addition to God's reality and the subjective realities of individuals is a third type of reality; a normative reality. A normative reality represents the accepted norm of a group. For example there is a normative reality associated with the western world, a large group of people, and a normative reality associated with medical doctors, a much smaller group. Note that a normative reality is not necessarily a statistical average representing the mean of all realities in the group. Sometimes an idea is accepted as the norm by a group when only a handful of people in the group actually believe it. A lunatic is one whose subjective reality differs wildly from the normative reality of a group he is associated with.

Having redefined reality, we must redefine both truth and falsity in order to make these concepts work properly within our new understanding. The concepts of truth and falsity are closely related to the concept of reality. I conjecture that there are two types of truth, and likewise two types of falsity, relative and absolute. All truth or falsity must be defined in the context of a specific reality. Relative truth or falsity is defined within the context of an ordinary being's subjective reality. Absolute truth or falsity is defined in the context of God's reality.

It may be obvious to some, but to others it certainly will not be, so we now proceed to the question of what has all this to do with information. In answer to this question, if, as we have discussed, any given reality is defined by the perceptions of a single individual, then information must be the only thing which is truly "real", just as I said. As an example, let us consider the reader's existence in my own subjective reality.

If I do not know you, then the information of your existence has not yet reached me. Therefore, the statement that you do not exist at all is a relative truth in the context of my subjective reality, while at the same time being an absolute falsity. If, by contrast, I am aware of your existence, then in my reality you are defined in a number of ways. Firstly, you are defined by the information about you which my senses convey to my consciousness. Secondly, you are defined by the information about you which is communicated to me by others. This information may be relatively true or false in the context of my reality, depending on whether or not I choose to believe it. This information may also be absolutely true or false, which may or may not influence its relative truth or falsity. Lastly, your nature in my reality is defined by my memories of you - pre-existing information which is coupled with incoming information to constantly redefine relative truth and falsity. The above is merely an example of how an entity's nature in a given reality is defined. The same holds true for nearly all beings in nearly all realities.

So, then, we come to the conclusion that a reality is a series of truths and falsities (to computer programmers, an array of boolean values). A relative truth is true in the context of a specific reality. An absolute truth is true in the context of the reality associated with God.

Inarguably, a series of truths and falsities constitutes information. If the universe is the sum of all realities, then the universe is also information. Scientists are those who devote their lives to conforming their own realities to the equivalent absolute truths and falsities as relates to the so-called "physical world". Philosophers are as scientists, except that they are concerned with truths and falsities which do not necessarily relate directly to the physical world. Theologians are individuals who devote their lives to completely conforming their own realities to God's reality, with truths about God Himself being their highest priority. All of these benefit from communication with other individuals with similar goals.

There are two ways in which an individual can alter another individual's reality. The first is persuasion, the second is deception. Persuasion is the process of presenting new information, or assembling existing information in new ways so that, if the one persuading is successful, the individual whom he is attempting to persuade will voluntarily alter his reality. Deception involves presenting information which is absolutely false and/or relatively false in the context of the deceiver's reality or connecting absolutely or relatively true information with absolutely or relatively false logic. In short, persuasion is the altering of an individual's reality by his permission, whereas deception is the art of forcibly altering another individual's reality.

Actions can also be persuasive or deceptive by these new definitions. Many of the physical crimes which are considered to be the worst are such because they are deceptive actions; the memories which the victim obtains from the crime forcibly, and usually permanently, alter the victim's reality. Based upon this information, deception must be considered one of the most reprehensible acts possible.

If, then, we accept that information is all that is real, as each reality is defined by information, we must re-evaluate our system of values. It has been said that people have the inalienable rights to life, liberty and the pursuit of happiness. I do not challenge life as the most fundamental right, however I do wish to alter the reader's perception of liberty. If what I have written in this document is true, the most fundamentally important liberty is the right to completely uncensored and unregulated gathering, interpreting and communicating of information. No being could be considered to have any sort of liberty if his reality were limited by an outside force preventing him from obtaining relevant information.