In a previous post, I described as “over excited” the idea that the mysterious “dark matter“, that hypothetical form of matter that does not interact with light, and which is invoked to explain anomalous astronomical observations, may be, in some sense, “raw” information, unattached to conventional matter.
Remarkably enough, a new theoretical approach initiated by the theoretical physicist Erik Verlinde suggests that information and dark matter may indeed be connected; that the phenomena attributed to dark matter, and indeed to gravity itself, are due solely to entropy. And physical entropy, as we know, is closely connected to information.
The arguments are complex and rather technical, but are nicely summarised in an article on ‘The origins of gravity‘ by Jon Cartwright in New Scientist 2 August 2025. Verlinde’s idea of entropic gravity is rooted in attempts to unify general relativity with quantum theory, and stems from the original idea of Ted Jacobson that there may be a relation between gravity and the laws of thermodynamics. Verlinde invoked the holographic principle by which our physical universe can be regarded as a projection from a lower dimensional realm. Analysed in this way, Verlinde showed that as any two masses get closer, entropy increases. We can, in Cartwright’s words, “see gravity not as a force, but simply as the result of nature’s tendency towards greater entropy in a secret, lower-dimensional realm”. What this realm is remains mysterious, but for Verlinde it is the network of quantum entanglement between all entities in the universe, which is a network of pure information. This is the part of reality which is becoming disordered. As an earlier popular presentation of Verlinde’s ideas put it, the theory “envisions space as a storage medium for information, with the information being encoded on surfaces — holographic screens”.
For those with some background in the subject, Verlinde’s original paper, ‘On the origins of gravity and the Laws of Newton‘ can be found on arXiv.
Calculations using this theory do indeed explain, with remarkable accuracy, the dark matter phenomenon. However, as Cartwright describes, the theory is still very controversial, with even some of those who accept Verlinde’s formalism rejecting his “information is reality” metaphysics.
Cartwright ends his article with an intriguing coda. Verlinde argues that information-based physical theories are appropriate for our present-day information society, as others have pointed out that thermodynamics was developed in the steam-based society of the nineteenth century. Cartwright quotes American physicist Dan Carney, who agrees with formalism but not the metaphysics of Verlinde, with a new example: Albert Einstein may have been obsessed by relativity partly because of an issue of his own day: the problem of synchronising train times between distant cities.
The Occasional Informationist 