This is the
upper limit of
information that, with a given
energy, a region can hold.
Make sense? Wait, there's more.
This information is due to different Quantum states. Because of uncertainty, one can develop a bound of the form for use with a sphere:
I <= (2 Pi E R)/(hbar c ln2)
I ==information
E ==energy
R ==radius
hbar ==Plank's constant
c ==, of course, the speed of light
Also be written as
I <= k M R
M == mass in the region
k == constant of ~2.57686*10^43 bits/(m kg)
This was developed by J.D. Bekenstein (aka Jacob Bekenstein, an Israeli physicist), having to do with entropy in a black hole related to their area.
Got it? Now, this is all well and good, but what does it mean? It means that all systems have a finite complexity. This is a natural consequence of Heisenberg’s Uncertainty Principle. How this occurs is rather weird and I really don't understand it.
You can use this bound to determine how much memory you would need to store a person in, for example, a computer. (For reference, the avg. person would take up 10^45 bits, a lump of sugar: 10^20 bits.{I have since read that 10^45 would be enough to hold ALL humans. I'll try and clear this up soon.) This replication wouldn't be really good, it would be perfect. (For issues w/r/t this, see ontological free will and emulated quarks.)