matterbut

Matterbut is a neologism used primarily in speculative physics and science fiction to describe a hypothetical state of matter in which a system's physical properties are directly tied to its informational content. In such a conception, information is not merely a descriptor of state but an active degree of freedom that can influence energy configurations, phase behavior, and macroscopic properties.

The idea builds on intersections of thermodynamics, information theory, and quantum mechanics. Proponents imagine materials where registers, patterns, or quantum correlations encode information that alters material response, enabling adaptive stiffness, transport, or phase transitions triggered by information input. Realizing matterbut would require mechanisms for robust information storage at macroscopic scales and for information-to-energy coupling that can compete with thermal noise.

In practice, matterbut remains speculative; there is no experimental evidence or consensus definition, and the term is rarely used in mainstream condensed-matter physics. Critics note that conflating information with physical state risks reintroducing teleological or informational paradoxes without clear mechanisms.

In literary and theoretical contexts, matterbut serves as a vehicle to discuss the ultimate relationship between information and matter, the limits of computation, and the possibility of matter that can "compute itself" in response to environmental data.

As a term, matterbut is mostly a thought experiment and a niche concept within discourse on information-physics, rather than a recognized state of matter.