The Evolution of Meaning.

In line with the thinking of John A. Wheeler, Paul C.W. Davies, Lee Smolin, Marcelo Gleiser and Anton Zeilinger, the present book is based upon the premise that information is the fundamental entity in Nature. In this view, the world consists of discrete events that are characterized by the fact that they process and generate information .
The approach overcomes the traditional mechanistic worldview according to which material objects are passive entities that obey laws which have been imposed upon them at the time of the Big Bang. In the information-based view, the so-called 'objects' are understood as being entities that are actively engaged in the world, thus shaping the evolutionary history of the universe. In other words, they are more 'subjects' than objects.
A subject is characterized by its capability to perceive the world around it, and by the type of reactions to which such perceptions lead. On this basis, all subjects that can be identified in the universe can be classified into four categories; ranging from elementary particles to living creatures and two categories of conscious beings (higher animals and humans).
The concept of 'Subjectivity' is therefore one of the fundamental parameters of Nature. The other fundamental parameters with which Nature works are three sets of Matter Particles, Forces, Spacetime, Laws and Values (or 'Essential .Dimensions').
The unexpected result of this research was to find that each of these fundamental parameters encompasses four 'individual parameters', no more and no less. All of these parameters come in complementary doublets and triplets that fit a perfectly regular binary-tree type of pattern, The Tree of Everything , which leads not only to testable scientific predictions ; but also permits a non-trivial discussion of the 'ultimate meaning' of both the universe as a whole, and the life of individuals. These facts lead to exciting and intriguing conclusions that are fully in line with the thinking of some of today's philosophers.