The nested hierarchies we find in codes point to an intelligence behind nature.
Information
Karsten Pultz: Why random processes cannot produce information: A new approach to the argument
We don’t get information without the act of choice, a feature that is related only to intelligent agency.
Do Jeffrey Shallit’s writings offer more information than a blank page?
Michael Egnor wonders whether that’s true. But he faces the difficulty of convincing anti-ID mathematician Jeffrey Shallit, that HE, at least, ought to think they do.
Do you remember when IBM Watson (Jeopardy winner) was going to revolutionize medicine?
It seems Watson couldn’t determine which medical information was more meaningful than a lot of data in a given situation.
Pest insect gets plants to transmit false information to other plants
The world of life is probably mostly information, not matter. And what is the source of information?
Researchers build public “library” to help understand photosynthesis
From ScienceDaily: It isn’t easy being green. It takes thousands of genes to build the photosynthetic machinery that plants need to harness sunlight for growth. And yet, researchers don’t know exactly how these genes work. Now a team led by Princeton University researchers has constructed a public “library” to help researchers to find out what Read More…
At Quanta: Cells find “optimal” solutions, not just good ones
What then becomes of “bad design” arguments, like those of Nathan Lents? In a transient world, any solution can only be optimal for a given life, as it must be factored against other lives.
Theorizing information out of a black hole
Not really being able to integrate information with matter and energy surely means it is hard to say whether information could really be destroyed.
Paul Davies: Incorporating information into science as a physical quantity
In a world where some believe that consciousness must be a material thing, perhaps it’s not surprising that others seek to see information as a physical quantity. Computer scientist Robert J. Marks would ask, what is the weight difference between a full CD and an empty one? Could we start there?
Spiders mimic two different ant types while growing (but secretly signal spidery mates)
Yeah, the story does sound like as plotline from Saturday night with popcorn at the old Downtown Grand but… From ScienceDaily: Viewed from above, the mimics look like skinny, three-segmented ants to fool predators. But in profile, the adult mimics retain their more voluptuous and alluring spider figure to woo nearby mates. UC researchers presented Read More…
Endangered languages: Efforts to save them sometimes involve questionable claims
On major human issues, there are many personal histories and philosophies but no distinct rational mode of thinking that absolutely prevents conversion to another language.
Paul Davies and the “struggle to define life”
Information is the key? Wait till they discover the Law of Conservation of Information and try applying it to the hapless popular Darwinism that dominates biology today.
Paul Davies: Life’s defining characteristics “better understood as information”
The problem with taking information seriously in the evolution of life, as in Introduction to Evolutionary Informatics, is that it may rule out favorite “evolution” claims. Taking it seriously and discounting it whenever it matters is a fancy dance.
An information theory argument for the value of human beings
From Eric Holloway, based on creativity: Because creativity is unique to humans and irreducible, all human beings have the ability in principle. The fact that a particular human being’s creativity is not in use or is perhaps unusable at present does not mean that that person does not have the ability. Consequently, all humans have Read More…
Will AI art end the artist’s life?
Artists can instantiate their ideas more efficiently using better tools. Michelangelo could be more precise than the Stone Age cave artists. But artists can’t just use AI to automate creativity so that the machine writes masterpieces while they doze off. Information does not create and arrange itself via magic.