Metaphysics, Metamathematics and Metabiology
Gregory J. Chaitin · WORLD SCIENTIFIC eBooks · 2011
In this essay we present an information-theoretic perspective on epistemology using software models. We shall use the notion of algorithmic information to discuss what is a physical law, to determine the limits of the axiomatic method, and to analyze Darwin’s theory of evolution. Weyl, Leibniz, complexity and the principle of sufficient reason The best way to understand the deep concept of conceptual complexity and algorithmic information, which is our basic tool, is to see how it evolved, to know its long history. Let’s start with Hermann Weyl and the great philosopher/mathematician G. W. Leibniz. That everything that is true is true for a reason is rationalist Leibniz’s famous principle of sufficient reason. The bits of Ω seem to refute this fundamental principle and also the idea that everything can be proved starting from self-evident facts. What is a scientific theory?