Here are some half formed thoughts about information theory, entropy, quantum mechanics and the difference between News and FakeNews. I think the connection is important and relevant to this election.

'Classical News' is either true or false. It can be encoded in a bit. If the Allies win at Waterloo, encode it as a zero. If Napoleon wins, it's a one. This 'bit of information' is, at some point, true or false about the present. There comes a point where the issue is resolved, and now the information can be propagated. In a perfect and efficient 'market', all information propagates instantaneously, so no one can profit from information asymmetry. Of course, if you are a Rotschild, and only you know who won or lost, before the news reaches London, you can profit from this, by making a large bet – provided of course you are not known to make large bets like this, in which case everyone will know! (Similar to but the opposite of a Zero Knowedge proof – you commit to a bit without reavealing that bit).

Classical information bits are like rocks – red or black ones, say – in that you can give them to people, and if they change colour in transit it is a mistake that can be corrected with an error-correction code. There is a sharp answer, and a standard for saying 'this message was true' (gave me the correct bit), or 'this message was false' (the bit flipped in transit).

Reflexive information isn't information in this sense at all – it's a bit of information that is only 100% true if 100% of people believe it. If I've given you a non-Classical, reflexive bit of information, I haven't given you a rock. I've given you Schroedinger's Cat. The cat isn't a red or black rock – it's a dead or alive cat, that ends up that way only in the future. (Future proves past).

Collectively, we either kill the cat or let it live – determine the future classical state of the cat – by deciding what the Narrative about the cat is to be. This narrative has consequences of course, if everyone believes it – certainly it does for the cat!

Classical News, the news about the outcome at Waterloo, is real News. News about whether Schroedinger's Cat is dead or alive – or will be dead or alive – is FakeNews. FakeNews is neither true nor false until we decide to make it so, opening the box and killing the cat, or not. When I give you FakeNews, I'm giving you propaganda about what I want the cat to be, not 'information' in the classical sense.

Right now, there is a FakeNews battle of 1s and 0s aiming to convince enough people (establish a coherent wave) to create a reality of Blue or Red, come November. In a sense no one knows what humans with free will, so no one can know the outcome (though the lack of time coherence in voting helps!)

Under a propaganda regime, polls don't just sample data – first they try to affect it (leading questions, pre-suasion) – but secondly reporting 'false results' can be used to flip the bits. Everyone thinks this is going to happen, so some stay home and other are happy sheep and enjoy voting with the crowd, so this happens. A coherent wave of self-reinforcing falsity. Of course, knowing the truth about such chicanery helps destroy the effect!

'Reflexivity' is of course, a notion that George Soros has borrowed and made famous. It is a commonplace in game theory as well (games constructed to that they are won by guessing the outcome of the game).

What would a theory of error correcting codes for FakeNews look like?