RE: Informationalism 101 - Quantum Suicide... Squad?
Yes Shannon is a good place to start reading. His books are all open. Also Stephen Wolframs a new kind of science is another great place to read it's also available to read online. Plus Wolfram has a ton of lectures online.
The Quantum Suicide Squad is just a 101 introduction to the core postulates of informationalism. Which is a set of tools for debunking QW/QBS But this isn't some sort of new theory. It's primarily looking at the universe as something which fundamentally computes, but is not a simulation.
Because if the universe is a simulation then There's all kinds of code exploits, buffer overflows etc.
Nevertheless the universe is clearly not deterministic but I think we will find there is nothing random about it either. Consider looking closely at Wolframs interpretation of cellular automata. Pay close attention to where he is able to derive a Feynman diagram and also a Turing machine. An informational telescope is another good postulate. Pretty much anything by him is great stuff!
Your theory about a frozen I.e. preexisting multiverse is identical to several actual theories with some actual weight behind them. However none of these make any testable predictions that I am aware of. Until they do that puts them more in the category of philosophy than science.
What makes a theory a theory is that you can test it and there is someway it can be disproven.
Im not sure why Wolfram's latest book has not received such good amazon reviews
I wouldn't say it is frozen. Or rather it is, but not for the 'mind', 'observer', or what have you.
And yeah, that is why I said there is no scientific basis behind them, because scientific method is about testing stuff and refining models.
I remember talking with some guys after a Nurse with Wound concert about difference between random and chaotic (or somesuch), thing is if something is random there are quite good models for describing it, and you can make good predicitons for random stuff.