Science From Fisher Information: A Unification

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This review refers to the 1998 edition of the book, ISBN 0 521 63167 X hardback. I had originally gotten excited when I found this book. However: I think the author summed it up best with the final sentence of his book (P282). I quote him thanking "E.M.Wright, for bringing to my attention many aspects of modern quantum theory, especially its wonderful mysteries and paradoxes, bringing me up to date on the subject of measurement theory, and (hopefully) constraining my enthusiastic forays of theory to stay within physical bounds". In this book - I cant help wonder at the relevance of including sketches of photographs of famous people such as: J.A. Wheeler (P2), R.A. Fisher (P23), L. Brillouin (P66) and finally the author himself (P73). Are the photos a lead up to justify the inclusion of his own portrait ? I started getting a bit concerned for the veracity of the author's "science" when he began to use an anthropic type of argument, (P218). For example, he states "Thus, the values of (universal) constants are somehow scaled to accommodate the presence of human beings. This is flattering if true: it means that our presence has a profound - if indirect - effect upon physical laws and, hence, the Universe!", (his exclamation mark, not mine). On a more basic level, there was no nomenclature list for the variables used in the equations throughout the text. This made it a little difficult to follow the meaning of some equations. However, the maths was presented at a good level. Readers interested in B. Roy Frieden may like to search out more information using Wikipedia

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S C I E N C E F R O M F I S H E R I N F O R M AT I O N The aim of this book is to show that information is at the root of all fields of science. These fields may be generated by use of the concept of ‘‘extreme physical information,’’ or EPI. The physical information is defined to be the loss of Fisher information that is incurred in observing any scientific phenomenon. The act of observation randomly perturbs the phenomenon, and sets off a physical process that may be modelled as a mathematical game between the observer and a ‘‘demon’’ characterizing the phenomenon. The currency of the game is Fisher information. The output of the game is the distribution law characterizing the statistics of the effect and, in particular, the acquired data. Thus, in a sense, the act of measurement creates the very law that governs the measurement. It is self-realized. This second edition of Physics from Fisher Information has been rewritten throughout in addition to including much new material. B. ROY FRIEDEN is a Professor Emeritus of Optical Sciences at the University of Arizona. He has held visiting professorship posts at Kitt Peak National Observatory, the Microwave Research Institute in Florence, Italy, and the University of Groningen, the Netherlands. He is known in optics for having founded the field of laser beam shaping; he also invented an optical pupil that asymptotically achieves diffraction-free imaging, invented the three-dimensional optical transfer function and founded the field of maximum entropy image processing. During the past 15 years he has been working on a unification of science through the use of Fisher information. This book is the fruits of this labor. Email address: [email protected] SCIENCE FROM FISHER I N F O R M AT I O N A Unification B . R OY F R I E D E N Optical Sciences Center, The University of Arizona, Tucson, AZ P U B L I S H E D B Y T H E P R E S S S Y N D I C AT E O F T H E U N I V E R S I T Y O F C A M B R I D G E The Pitt Building, Trumpington Street, Cambridge, United Kingdom CAMBRIDGE UNI
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