Art Bell interviews science journalist and mathematician Charles Seife about the nature of information as a fundamental property of the universe. Seife explains how Claude Shannon's mid-20th century discovery of the laws of information created a third great scientific revolution, revealing that information behaves according to rules as strict as those governing thermodynamics and energy.
The conversation takes a deep look at quantum entanglement, the phenomenon Einstein called "spooky action at a distance," where paired particles respond to each other instantaneously regardless of the distance between them. Seife explains why, despite this apparent faster-than-light connection, scientists have proven it impossible to send actual messages through entangled particles. He and Art discuss how information theory connects to Einstein's relativity and quantum mechanics, providing a unifying framework for understanding the cosmos.
Art presses Seife on parallel universes, the origins of the Big Bang, and the possibility that our universe was created by a particle collider in another reality. Seife acknowledges that an intelligent designer cannot be ruled out by science and shares how physicist David Deutsch theorizes that quantum computers may one day tap computational resources from parallel universes.
