In the STR, the evolution of an object is described by the world lines in a system of spacetime coordinates.
It is obvious that human evolution cannot be described solely within the coordinates of spacetime; the concept of human evolution is far broader than that. It encompasses our relationship with G-d, other people, our knowledge, memory. Therefore, a description of human evolution within spacetime is incomplete and should be defined within a space-state.
Let us recall the key principles of the Kabbalah of Information:
1) In the beginning G-d created information, and He created nothing else but only shaped and elaborated on it.
2) All of Creation, including humans, is a hierarchy of informational worlds and represents a single informational space.
Based on the above, the author believes that human evolution and issues related to freedom of choice can only be considered within a single informational space, for which the dimensions of spacetime are only a fraction of all existing dimensions.
In my opinion, the fact of the existence of the informational space can be deduced from the description of Tzimtzum – the initial act of Creation. The concept of Tzimtzum was introduced by one of the greatest kabbalists, the Rabbi Isaac Luria, and then described by his disciple Rabbi Chaim Vital in his book Etz Chaim. Here is a direct quote from it: 'Know that before any emanations were emanated or any creations created, there was one simple supernal Light that filled all existence. There was no empty "place", no empty "space" or void. All reality was filled with that simple Ohr Ein Sof (Infinite Light). There was no category of "beginning" and no category of "end". All was one, unified, simple, undifferentiated, ubiquitous and homogeneous, Infinite Light, called "Ohr Ein Sof".
When it arose in His simple Will to create worlds and emanate emanations, to bring to light the perfection of His actions, His Names and His Attributes – which was actually the purpose for creating all the universes… He constricted His Infinite Essence away from the centre point of His Being, that is, from the very center of His Light. He thus constricted that Light, distancing it to the extremities around this center point, leaving a vacated space and hollow void... there was a "place" for all that was to be emanated, created, formed, and completed. He then drew forth a single, straight Ray from His Infinite Surrounding Light into the vacated space. This Ray descended in stages into the vacated space. But not all the way to the bottom extremity [of the Infinite Light]. Into this vacated space, He then emanated, created, formed and made/completed all the worlds. Through this Ray, which serves as a constricted conduit, the outpouring Supernal Light of Ein Sof spreads forth and flows down into the universes that are located within that Space and Void.'
From the viewpoint of the Kabbalah of Information, the creation of an 'empty space' is interpreted as the concealment of information about G-d and the creation of an informational space.
The idea of interpreting Tzimtzum as a concealment was first put forward by Rabbi Abraham Herrera and later developed by the Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Lyadi.
5.2 The Concept of Informational Space
In modern science, there are many examples of space-states in which the evolution of certain physical systems takes place.
For instance, in classical mechanics, each particle has three spatial coordinates and three momentum coordinates. Thus, the evolution of one particle can be described within the six-dimensional phase space-state. Accordingly, if we are dealing with a group of N particles, the evolution of this group can be described within a 6N-dimensional phase space-state.
Quantum mechanics introduces the infinite-dimensional Hilbert space to describe the evolution of systems. In this space, the state of an isolated quantum system is described by a vector.
The author believes the informational space to be far more complex and diverse than physical space-states. It should include spatiotemporal dimensions, dimensions describing our mental state, memory, knowledge, our relationship with the world around us, with other people and with G-d.
The informational space also contains the areas of semantics and genetic data.
It should be pointed out that modern science is starting to realize the need to describe the evolution of systems in the informational space. In particular, Humming put forward a model of informational space to describe the evolution of biological systems. Humming's idea was to represent informational space as an N-dimensional cube, the vertices of which represent a sequence of numbers characterizing certain genetic information.
5.3 Dimensionality of Informational Space
The author believes that, similarly to the STR, the evolution of Creation and man in particular can be presented with informational 'world lines'.
Thus, if the evolution of one individual can be described within an N-dimensional informational space, then the evolution of a group of N people can be described within an informational space of N × N dimensions.
We cannot tell what the absolute dimensionality of informational space is, but it is obviously enormous. We can confidently say that the dimensionality of informational space is not a constant value, and we can trace the relative changes in the dimensionality of informational space in the course of the evolution of Creation:1) Tzimtzum. At the third stage of the Tzimtzum process, the upper extremity of the 'finite' ray (Kav) touched the infinite light of Ein Sof, while its bottom extremity extended down into the created informational space. Hence, the author believes that the ray demonstrated the first and most important dimension of informational space and the entire Creation – the degree to which information about the expression of the Almighty is concealed. The upper extremity of the ray symbolized the absence of concealment, while its bottom extremity stood for maximum concealment. The Kav determined the metrics of informational space.
2) The six days of Creation. According to the Kabbalah of Information, in the beginning He created information, and during the next six days He shaped and categorized it. Thus, in the course of the Six Days the dimensionality of informational space has been continuously expanding.
3) The primordial sin. As a result of gaining forbidden information about good and evil, these dimensions have appeared in the informational space. Consequently, the overall dimensionality of the informational space has expanded.
4) As a result of the innumerable sins committed by the antediluvian generation, the number of evil dimensions has increased dramatically in the informational space of Creation. By destroying the antediluvian generation, G-d has significantly reduced the number of dimensions within informational space.
5) Noah and his sons were given seven laws describing the rules for their behavior. In fact, these laws singled out a certain area in the informational space. Evolution within it was meant to be positive for humanity. Because of the violation of these laws, the world's 'informational line' has entered the domain of evil dimensions.
6) The Tower of Babel – as a result of the sinful intentions of the builders of the Tower of Babel, the Almighty has mixed their languages, thus preventing them from exchanging information and coordinating their evolution in informational space. Also, the dimensionality of the informational space has been expanded in proportion to the number of new languages.
7) The giving of the Torah – the commandments of the Torah delimit a domain of evolution within the informational space which is devoid of projections to dimensions of evil.
8) Tikkun – 'Repair'. According to our faith, our goal is to bring the informational space to a state close to the one that existed prior to Adam's fall.
Comments on the above. We can make certain conclusions based on the description of the evolution of the informational space:
1) Before the fall of Adam, the Almighty had already shaped the informational space necessary for the evolution of mankind.
2) As a result of his fall, numerous dimensions of evil were added to the informational space.
3) By His subsequent actions (the destruction of the antediluvian generation, Noah's laws, the giving of the Torah), G-d created a domain in the informational space where mankind could evolve without entering the dimensions of evil; accordingly, the dimensionality of this domain was much smaller than the total dimensionality of the informational space.
4) The obvious exception to this paradigm is the events involving the builders of the Tower of Babel. People were separated from each other, and the number of dimensions in the informational space has increased. This issue deserves an explanation because, according to the Torah, any separation (other than a separation from evil) is not good. Hence the question: why did G-d have to take this step?
In the Torah (chapter Noah) we read, 'And G-d said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language; and this is what they begin to do."' Obviously, the Almighty had to disperse people because they were preparing to do evil. However, we can still learn a valuable lesson from those events: in my opinion, their description is direct proof that man (or mankind as a group) has been granted enormous power over Creation both in the realm of good and, unfortunately, in the realm of evil. The fact that the Almighty had to disperse people indicates that mankind was not yet ready to commit acts of collective good.
5) The areas in the informational space that the Almighty has established for the evolution of mankind (defined by the laws of the Torah and those of Noah) distinguished from other areas in the informational space with order – that is, the structure of the relationships between people and the Almighty and among people themselves.
In science, phenomena involving changes in order are known as phase transitions, such as the transition from gas to liquid and from liquid to solid. Phase transitions are accompanied by changes in symmetry and entropy. In particular, the phase transition along the gas-liquid-solid chain reduces symmetry and entropy (i.e. the possible number of states).
Similarly, a man's transition from the common informational space to the areas defined by the laws of the Torah and Noah can be conventionally represented as a 'phase' transition. The area in the informational space defined by the laws of the Torah and Noah has a greater degree of order and lower entropy (a reduced number of possible states) than the rest. According to the Second Law of Thermodynamics, which is universal in nature, maintaining the system in a state of low entropy (in relation to the environment) requires continuous work. In the same way, in order to enter the area of informational space defined by the laws of Torah and Noah, one must exert tremendous effort over oneself and continue to do so while in this area.
5.4 Beyond the Universe
How the Kabbalah of Information Tackles Unresolved Issues of Spacetime Physics
As mentioned above, the Theory of Relativity deals with a notion of time being determined by light signals and with a notion of proper time.
However, it does not answer the following questions:
1) Is there an absolute time?
2) What is the essence of the term 'now'?
3) Is spacetime continuous or discrete?
4) Can time be reversed?
5) What is 'internal time'?
We will try to answer these questions from the position of the Kabbalah of Information.
And There Was Evening, and There Was Morning
In the previous chapter, we discussed issues of the dimensions of informational space. However, we did not touch upon the dimension in which the informational space evolves, and the sequence of events is determined.
Obviously, this dimension must be absolute for the entirety of Creation. To understand it, let us turn to the sources:
1) In the description of the process of Tzimtzum we observe a sequence of events: concealing information about the Almighty and the subsequent emanation of a finite ray, which carries information about all of Creation.
2) The Prophecy of Ezekiel – in his vision, the prophet saw angels (Hayot) running and returning.
3) The first verse of Sefer Yetzirah says, 'With 32 mystical paths of Wisdom engraved Yah the Lord of Hosts the G-d of Israel the living G-d King of the universe El Shaddai Merciful and Gracious High and Exalted Dwelling in Eternity.’ All the above-listed names of Almighty correspond to certain Sefirot and characterize His expression in Creation. In his commentary on Sefer Yetzirah, Aryeh Kaplan reasonably argues that the sequence of G-d's names given in this verse corresponds to the movement up and down the Sefirot tree.
4) Also, in Sefer Yetzirah 1:6 we read, 'And His word in them is running and returning’.
5) The Torah – the description of each day of Creation ends with the phrase 'and there was evening, and there was morning'. In his commentary given in the book Torah Ohr, Rabbi Schneur Zalman of Lyadi pointed out that this phrase is a description of Tzimtzum. It is obvious that all informational events of each day of Creation took place between the morning and the evening, while nothing happened between the evening and the morning.
Based on the above, we can conclude that Creation has a pulsating character consisting of absolute and uniform informational pulses.
It should be noted that informational pulses have several functions:
1) Defining absolute time.
2) Creating and supporting the state of the informational space – that is, the entirety of Creation.
The content filling the informational space is determined by the Divine Providence and ort actions. Consequently, each pulse carries a certain amount of information.
It is important to note that the amount of information carried by the pulses is not constant in the processes of evolution and Creation.
In the first six days of Creation the amount of information carried by the pulses was enormous. The phrase (in Bereishit) 'And the heaven and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day G-d finished His work which He had made; and He rested on the seventh day from all His work which He had made.'
After the first seven days Creation transitioned into the state of support and Divine Providence. Man started to create content. The informational content of pulses also grows in the 'miracle' mode (see the author's article 'Miracles and Maxwell's demon'), since miracles require processing a significant amount of additional information.
From the above, we can speculate that pulses determine the absolute time that Isaac Newton was referring to (in Kabbalah this is known as 'seder z'manim'). The pulses are absolute and permeate all of Creation, from the Tzimtzum process to our world of Asiyah.
The Fifth Dimension
According to the Theory of Special Relativity, spacetime is four-dimensional. Absolute time (pulses) can be represented as the fifth dimension along which spacetime moves as a whole. Thus, we need to introduce a formula that describes the change in relative time in relation to the absolute.
The issue of the speed of change in relative time has been the subject of philosophical and scientific debate.
Richard Price thought the idea of time speed was absurd because the numerator and denominator dimensions are the same, and their ratio is simply a number without dimensions.
Tim Maudlin held the opposite view. In his reply to Price, he gave the following example: a fair dollar-to-dollar exchange rate should be 1 dollar to 1 dollar. Maudlin continues, 'If you think that this answer is meaningless, imagine your reaction to an offer of exchange at any other rate.'
According to the Kabbalah of Information, we can express the rate of change of time as the change of relative time relatively to the pulse.
In the article Relativistic Quantum Mechanics, Paul Horwitz considers one of Einstein's thought experiments: let us imagine coordinate system F in which there is a clock; and coordinate system F1, also with a clock, which is moving with respect to system F at speed v. Let us imagine that at moments t1 and t2 signals are sent from system F to system F1, according to the time shown by the clock in system F. A sensor in system F1 receives these signals at moments t1' and t2' according to the clock in system F1. The correlation of time intervals in systems F and F1 is calculated by the formula:
The interval t1-t2 is considered to be an interval of universal time according to the clock in system F. The interval recorded in moving system F1 is known as Einstein's time and corresponds to the time interval observed in system F1 for two events in system F.
He then compares the time intervals for systems with different gravitational potentials and draws a similar conclusion about the existence of universal time. Also, a free-falling clock runs according to universal time.
Paul Horwitz thus concludes that there are two types of time – absolute (universal) time for clocks in any system, independent of the speed of movement or the force of gravity, and the time measured by observers according to light signals (Einstein's time).
According to the perspective of the Kabbalah of Information, this absolute (universal) time is defined by informational pulses.
Consider the famous 'twin paradox'. If one twin stays on Earth and the other travels in a spaceship at a speed approaching the speed of light, upon his return to Earth the second twin will appear younger than his brother because the flow of relative time was slower for him. The essence of the paradox is the following: if we take Earth as our reference system, the second twin moves at a speed approaching the speed of light in this reference system. If we take a spaceship as a reference frame system, then the first twin moves at a speed approaching the speed of light relatively to the spaceship. Then why do they age differently? There are various explanations for the 'twin paradox' – namely, that the second twin is experiencing an acceleration while the first twin doesn’t, and that, in order to return to Earth, the second twin changes must change his frame of reference.
What is fundamentally important is that within the system of the absolute time of pulses both twins are ageing at the same pace. The difference arises from the speed of measurement of relative time in relation to the absolute pulsations. It is also noteworthy that both twins have the same internal feeling of time, and that the second twin would have never been able to say that he was ageing slower if he hadn't returned to Earth and seen his brother.
Internal Time
One of the principle conclusions of the STR is the absence of absolute simultaneity.
At the beginning of this article I cited a dialogue between Albert Einstein and the philosopher of science Rudolf Carnap. Einstein was concerned with the uniqueness of our inner 'now' not in terms of registering light signals but our inner perception of time which cannot be derived from the laws of physics.
So, the question is: what is the nature of the time that we perceive? A large number of works in neuropsychology is devoted to this issue.
There is no unique area in the human brain that is responsible for the perception of time, while centers responsible for vision, hearing, taste and touch have been identified. There is no evidence that brain damage can result in a loss of the sense of time. There are certain temporal structures in our brain, such as the circadian clock that synchronizes our biological processes with the solar cycle, but they do not reflect our internal perception of time.
Most neuropsychologists tend to think that we feel Newton's absolute time rather than Einstein's relative time as our inner sense of time is independent of the speed of relative movement and gravity.
Examples from physics confirm this point of view.
In the twin paradox, internal time flows at the same rate for both twins. A similar phenomenon occurs at the event horizon of a Black Hole. Let’s make a thought experiment. Imagine an external observer witnessing another observer passing the event horizon. From the point of view of the external, the speed of the second observer's fall will continuously decelerate, and he will never see him actually cross the event horizon. At the same time, the second observer will not register crossing the event horizon since his perception of time would not change.
The author considers it possible to draw the following conclusions from the above:
1) Our internal sense of time is independent of registration of light signals and gravity and corresponds to informational pulses permeating the entirety of Creation – that is, it is absolute.
2) Our feeling of internal time as an informational pulse is not generated not in our brain but our consciousness which, in turn, is the intellectual part of our soul.
3) From the first two statements, we can draw a far-reaching conclusion. The fact that the feeling of internal time is independent of any physical processes can indirectly prove the existence of the soul.
So, what is the unique moment of 'now' that Albert Einstein was concerned with? To answer that, let us return to the notion of informational pulses.
Each informational pulse creates and maintains the existence of the informational space and everything that exists in it and arranges all events (content) in the 'memory of Creation' in a consistent form.
This process finds an absolute reflection in our consciousness. The future is not defined for us, but once it is actualized, the 'now' content is fixed and becomes fully determined.
This can be described with the concept of 'informational entropy' introduced by Claude Shannon in 1942. It is expressed by the formula:
where E is the Shannon's informational entropy that defines the degree of our uncertainty, and P is the number of possible states of the system.
The Nobel Prize winner Manfred Eigen described informational entropy as follows: 'Information entropy is everything we do not know, taking into account everything we do know.' In the book The Order of Time the theoretical physicist Carlo Rovelli wrote, 'Time is the information we do not have.'
Since our future is not determined, its informational is positive. At the moment of 'now', our informational entropy is reduced practically to zero (or to a negligible number). Thus, the moment of 'now' is defined by a sharp decrease in our information entropy.
In fact, we are machines for reducing the informational entropy of Creation.
We can also draw analogies with the process of measurement in quantum physics. For us, the future as a superposition of possible events. Our choices and Divine Providence result in 'the measurement of the future'. It becomes fixed in the form of ‘now’ and becomes the past.< See chapter 4 | Continue to chapter 6 > | See all chapters
To purchase Eduard Shyfrin’s book ‘From Infinity to Man: The Fundamental Ideas of Kabbalah Within the Framework of Information Theory and Quantum Physics’ please click here.To purchase Eduard Shyfrin’s book ‘Travels with Sushi in the Land of the Mind’ please click here.
