  An objective definition of pragmatic information and the consideration of
recent results about information processing in the human brain can help
overcome some traditional difficulties with the interpretation of quantum
mechanics. Rather than attempting to define information ab initio, I introduce
the concept of interaction between material bodies as a primary concept. Two
distinct categories can be identified: 1) Interactions which can always be
reduced to a superposition of physical interactions (forces) between elementary
constituents; 2) Interactions between complex bodies which cannot be reduced to
a superposition of interactions between parts, and in which patterns and forms
(in space and/or time) play the determining role. Pragmatic information is then
defined as the correspondence between a given pattern and the ensuing
pattern-specific change. I will show that pragmatic information is a biological
concept that plays no active role in the purely physical domain; it only does
so when a living organism intervenes. The consequences for the foundations of
both classical and quantum physics are important and will be discussed in
detail. Since by its very definition pragmatic information (the one our brain
uses to represent, think about and react to the outside world)cannot operate in
the quantum domain, it is advisable to refrain from using it in our mental
representation of what is happening 'inside' a quantum system. Although the
theoretical framework developed for quantum mechanics handles mathematical
entities specifically attributed to a quantum system, the only truly pragmatic
information it can provide relates to macroscopic effects on the environment
(natural, or artificial as in a measurement instrument) with which the system
interacts.
