ONE BIT

The difference between one and zero in one line of code - whether in a computer or in the universe at large - can make a huge difference, or it can be completely buried in the all-pervasive fuzz-noise. There are theorists who analyse the universe as being essentially digital in nature - certainly it is a more logical way of breaking shit down than the "trialectic" we were he-hawwing about here earlier...). The trick is that the difference lies essentially in where in the architecture of the code the zero or one is reversed. In your DNA a single bit of information can turn on or off a huge section of code - a switch. But every event in the universe functions as a kind of switch. From some vantage point, every event in the universe is the apex of an infinitely tall pyramid. Or it may be an insignificant bit of dust buried in the foundation (whereever the foundation of an infinitely tall pyramid may be located...).










As I created these images as a metaphor for this idea, I also was thinking about how pattern is essentially a function of our perception, a symptom of consciousness. After all, the bit doesn't care if it is part of a smooth tiling or an irritating obstruction. The stone doesn't care whether it is eroding into the sand or crushing someone's skull. The pyramid spreads out from our own center of focus, constantly reordering the universe from the inside out, fading into the insignificant distance.

From the wikipedia article on informational physics:
"...every ‘it’ – every particle, every field of force, even the space-time continuum itself – derives its function, its meaning, its very existence entirely – even if in some contexts indirectly – from the apparatus-elicited answers to yes-or-no questions, binary choices, bits. ‘It from bit’ symbolizes the idea that every item of the physical world has at bottom – a very deep bottom, in most instances – an immaterial source and explanation; that which 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 that this is a participatory universe” (John Archibald Wheeler [1990]"