Information is Non-physical at both the Micro and Macro Levels

The idea that “information is physical” has been widely accepted in the scientific community. However, in a paper first published online couple years ago, the author demonstrated phenomenologically that the rules connecting signs and their meanings cannot be physical laws, showing that information is non-physical. In this multidisciplinary study spanning biology, physics, and semiotics, the author extends the argument presented in a recent paper—that biological information is non-physical because its irreversibility violates the time-reversal symmetry in physical laws—to demonstrate that macroscopic information is also non-physical. Macroscopic information processes consist of numerous interconnected signal transductions, and their irreversibility arises from multiple biological mechanisms: unidirectional causal mechanisms determine the irreversibility of sensory transduction and neurotransmitter-gated ion channels; the refractory period of voltage-gated ion channels ensures the irreversible movement of action potentials along axons toward synaptic terminals; and the structural asymmetry of synapses leads to that chemical signals propagate only forward across synapses. In contrast to that the irreversibility of macroscopic physicochemical processes arises from the statistical outcomes of a large number of underlying reversible microscopic physicochemical processes, the irreversibility of macroscopic information stems from a vast number of underlying irreversible microscopic biological information processes. Therefore, macroscopic information also violates the time-reversal symmetry in physical laws, demonstrating that it is non-physical.