Engineer/Investment Professional
Information Physics

Shannon Information, Entropy, Uncertainty in Thermodynamics and ID

This essay is intended to give a short overview of textbook understanding of Shannon Information, Entropy, Uncertainty in thermodynamics and Intelligent Design. Technical corrections are welcome. The phrases “Shannon Information”, “Shannon Uncertainty”, “Shannon Entropy” are all the same. The most familiar every day usage of the notion of Shannon Information is in the world of Read More…

Off Topic

BA77’s Off Topic Thread, Volume 5 — Aerobatic Ballet, what ID has done for me, Cyd Charisse, Tango jealousy, Butterfly

This is a thread for UD commenters to speak their mind. Please keep it civil. Off topic #1 If I could be a ballet dancer, I’d be this man: [youtube VQKfvwoKc6w] Off topic #2 It’s no secret I’m rather chummy with agnostics, atheists, free-thinkers and academics, and even some of the less reputable elements of Read More…

Comp. Sci. / Eng. Self-Org. Theory thermodynamics and information

Rube Goldberg Complexity Increase in Thermodynamically Closed Systems

A thermodynamically closed system that is far from equilibrium can increase the amount of physical design provided it is either front loaded or has an intelligent agent (like a human) within it. A simple example: A human on a large nuclear powered space ship can write software and compose music or many other designs. The Read More…

News

ID’s grand quest, the search for steganography in biology

Courtesy Wikipedia’s entry on steganography, this photo has an encrypted photo within it: The hidden image is revealed by removing all but the two least significant bits of each color component and a subsequent normalization. The hidden image is shown below. Steganography Finally, we come to the research theme that I find most intriguing. Steganography, Read More…

'Junk DNA'

Linguistics of biological systems

We’re honored to have Piotr as part of the UD discussions. Though I most certainly disagree with his views about biological evolution, I salute his devotion to the important discipline of linguistics. I would like to acknowledge and promote his blog http://langevo.blogspot.com/. One of my current research interests is in the linguistics of DNA and Read More…

'Junk DNA'

Inessential does not mean non-functional! Gene guns, transposons, some polyploids, programmed apoptosis, etc.

Strictly speaking gene guns are inessential for living organisms, but does being inessential for life make this tool of genetic engineering non-functional? If there are tools for innovation and exploration, they might not be essential, but does that mean they are non-functional? Of course not! In like manner transposons and some forms of polyploidy might Read More…

Genetics News

No universal Transition-Transversion mutation bias

Occasionally evolutionary biology tries to inform chemical theories, but given the shaky foundation of certain evolutionary claims, maybe this isn’t a good idea. Years ago, in a debate, an evolutionist said something to the effect, “Sal you’re clueless, transition mutations happen 10 times more frequently than transversion mutations.” I’m sorry now I took that evolutionist’s Read More…