DOES THE UNIVERSE IN FACT CONTAIN ALMOST NO INFORMATION

At first sight, an accurate description of the state of the universe a ppears to require a mind-bogglingly large and perhaps even infinite am ount of information, even if we restrict our attention to a small subs ystem such as a rabbit. In this paper, it is suggested that most of th is information is merely apparent, as seen from our subjective viewpoi nts, and that the algorithmic information content of the universe as a whole is close to zero. It is argued that if the Schrodinger equation is universally valid, then decoherence together with the standard cha otic behavior of certain non-linear systems will make the universe app ear extremely complex to any self-aware subsets that happen to inhabit it now, even if it was in a quite simple state shortly after the big bang. For instance, gravitational instability would amplify the micros copic primordial density fluctuations that are required by the Heisenb erg uncertainty principle into quite macroscopic inhomogeneities, forc ing the current wavefunction of the universe to contain such Byzantine superpositions as our planet being in many macroscopically different places at once. Since decoherence bars us from experiencing more than one macroscopic reality, we would see seemingly complex constellations of stars etc., even if the initial wavefunction of the universe was p erfectly homogeneous and isotropic.