Dataism / Information Ontology
Dataism holds that reality is fundamentally information or computation. Matter, energy, space, and time are emergent expressions of underlying information-processing. Consciousness is an algorithm; physics is a set of computational rules. Wheeler's "It from Bit" thesis asserts that every physical quantity derives its existence from information — from bits, from yes-or-no questions.
I. Time
| Extent | Infinite |
| Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Grain | Discrete |
| Freedom | Deterministic |
| Traversability | Branching |
| Dimensionality | One |
| Direction | Uni-directional |
Time is emergent and infinite — it is a computational parameter within the information-processing substrate of reality. Time is discrete: it advances in computational steps, each a state-transition of the underlying algorithm. It branches because computation can fork into parallel threads. Direction is uni-directional because computation proceeds irreversibly from input to output. Wheeler's "it from bit" implies that temporal flow is an informational phenomenon.
II. Space
| Extent | Infinite |
| Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Curvature | Undefined |
| Dimensionality | N |
| Locality | Non-local |
Space is emergent and infinite — it is a data structure generated by the computational substrate, not an independently existing container. Its curvature is undefined because the simulation could implement any geometry. Space is non-local because information processing is not bound by spatial proximity; any node in the computational network is accessible. Dimensionality is N because the number of spatial dimensions is a parameter of the computation.
III. Matter
| Extent | Finite |
| Ontological Status | Emergent |
| Conservation | Conserved |
| Dimensionality | N |
| Locality | Non-local |
Matter is emergent and finite — it is a pattern in the informational substrate, not a fundamental substance. What we call "material objects" are stable data structures. Matter is conserved because the underlying computation preserves information (unitarity). It is non-local because data can be instantiated or replicated anywhere in the computational network regardless of spatial position.
IV. Observer
| Time Instance | Multiple |
| Space Instance | Multiple |
| Extent of Knowledge | Total |
| Retainment of Knowledge | Total |
| Physicality | Both |
| Agency | Active |
| Number | Plural |
V. Energy
Infinite and emergent — energy is an emergent bookkeeping quantity within the computational substrate; it tracks the cost of state transitions in the underlying information-processing. Conservation: Conserved — Noether's theorem and energy conservation are computational symmetries of the informational rules governing reality. Dispersibility: Irreversible — Landauer's principle ties information erasure to irreversible entropy increase; computation has a thermodynamic arrow that mirrors the arrow of time.
VI. Information
Information is THE fundamental reality — 'it from bit.' Everything reduces to information processing: organisms are algorithms, societies are data-processing systems, the cosmos is a computation. Information is substantival in the strongest possible sense. It is conserved because computation is reversible in principle. It is discrete because all information ultimately reduces to bits.