ravigomatam.com – Ravi Gomatam

From Matter to Information

Classically, and conventionally, matter carries information. Newspapers, books, radio signals are all examples. Matter is the basic reality and it carries information. The classical conception of matter (res extensa), however, has been decisively invalidated by quantum mechanics (QM). Nevertheless, QM retains classical properties of matter and simply quantizes them. This has led to a microscopic quantum mechanics (mQM) which is pragmatically useful, but has remained ontologically sterile.

Quantum theory has its own nexus with information that is non-classical, in an as yet unknown sense. Quantum information theory is a result of this insight. However, one of the founders of this new field has opined thus

“Quantum information theory, as it stands, never gets round to specifying what it is referring to as ‘quantum information’, nor its relation to classical information. It is not, despite the name, a theory of a new type of information. A new theory of information is needed within physics but at a deeper level than both [present] quantum theory and Shannon’s theory."

Prof. Gomatam’s effort is precisely in developing such a deeper theory, by developing macroscopic quantum mechanics (MQM) © that is logically independent of current mQM. In MQM, he is moving to develop a new conception of matter within physics called Objective Semantic Information (OSI) ©. OSI can potentially create new technologies that are eco friendly and resource regenerative.

About

After obtaining his Masters degree in electronics engineering from India, Ravi Gomatam moved to the USA in the early 1970s, ran his own consultancy firm in the areas of operating system design, data communications and very-large database design, and carried out projects for many fortune-500 companies including General Motors, Ford, Chrysler, Burroughs and IBM. In the mid 1980s, he turned to academics, obtaining his Ph.D. in the foundations of quantum mechanics, which remains his area of active research.

Prof. Gomatam is developing what he calls the post-quantum ontic theory of quantum phenomena, around an exciting and new view of matter that he calls “objective semantic information” (OSI). OSI can be and is being applied by him in many other fields of science and technology.

Full CV

Publications

Positions Held

Citations

Scholarly Appreciations

Brian Josephson

Nobel Laureate Physics

“I was very interested in the talk by Dr. Ravi Gomatam because he showed, by some nice arguments, that the proper way to think of quantum mechanics is in terms of relationships. This is a new way of thinking. It may be that this is how we should be doing science”

Vijay Bhatkar

Padma Bhushan, Inventor of Param Supercomputer

“Objective Semantic Information (OSI) has a rich potential in science and technology and can place India in a position of leadership.”

Elmer Rosinger

Professor, Univ. of Pretoria

``You have a most unsually powerful, clear, deep and original philosophical and scientific mind. You are one of the very, very few topmost scientists whom I have ever met in a long career, on five continents in over 120 universities and research institutes.``

Mark Stuckey

Prof. of Physics, ELizabethtown College

``We agree with Gomatam (1999) who argues for a revision of our notion of macroscopic objects . . . Indeed, the key to progress . . . may lie in a willingness to abandon stalwart concepts of dynamism such as energy, momentum, force, and even causation at the fundamental level of modeling.``

Partha Ghose

S. N. Bose Center for Basic Sciences

“He has brought his deep understanding of physics and philosophy and his originality to bear on contemporary issues like information science and technology.”

Edward Mackinnon

Professor, California State Univ.

“In spite of the enormity of the conception, it is refreshing to see a bold vision of something new in quantum theory.``