Can information be used as a form of energy?

Of related interest to the OP and also of related interest to the Bacterial Flagellum paper that I cited, the following study observed that quantum processes “concentrate all of the vibrational energy in a biological protein into its lowest-frequency vibrational mode.”

Quantum coherent-like state observed in a biological protein for the first time - October 13, 2015 Excerpt: If you take certain atoms and make them almost as cold as they possibly can be, the atoms will fuse into a collective low-energy quantum state called a Bose-Einstein condensate. In 1968 physicist Herbert Fröhlich predicted that a similar process at a much higher temperature could concentrate all of the vibrational energy in a biological protein into its lowest-frequency vibrational mode. Now scientists in Sweden and Germany have the first experimental evidence of such so-called Fröhlich condensation (in proteins).,,, The real-world support for Fröhlich's theory (for proteins) took so long to obtain because of the technical challenges of the experiment, Katona said. http://phys.org/news/2015-10-quantum-coherent-like-state-biological-protein.html

As well, DNA itself does not belong to the world of classical mechanics but instead belongs to the world of quantum mechanics. In the following video, at the 22:20 minute mark, Dr Rieper shows why the high temperatures of biological systems do not prevent DNA from having quantum entanglement, and then at 24:00 minute mark Dr Rieper goes on to remark that practically the whole DNA molecule can be viewed as quantum information with classical information embedded within it.

"What happens is this classical information (of DNA) is embedded, sandwiched, into the quantum information (of DNA). And most likely this classical information is never accessed because it is inside all the quantum information. You can only access the quantum information or the electron clouds and the protons. So mathematically you can describe that as a quantum/classical state." Elisabeth Rieper – Classical and Quantum Information in DNA – video (Longitudinal Quantum Information resides along the entire length of DNA discussed at the 19:30 minute mark; at 24:00 minute mark Dr Rieper remarks that practically the whole DNA molecule can be viewed as quantum information with classical information embedded within it) https://youtu.be/2nqHOnVTxJE?t=1176

What is so devastating to Darwinian presuppositions with the finding pervasive quantum coherence, quantum entanglement, and/or quantum information, within molecular biology, is that quantum coherence, quantum entanglement, and/or quantum information is a non-local, beyond space and time, effect that requires a beyond space and time cause in order to explain its existence. As the following paper entitled “Looking beyond space and time to cope with quantum theory” stated, “Our result gives weight to the idea that quantum correlations somehow arise from outside spacetime, in the sense that no story in space and time can describe them,”

Looking beyond space and time to cope with quantum theory – 29 October 2012 Excerpt: “Our result gives weight to the idea that quantum correlations somehow arise from outside spacetime, in the sense that no story in space and time can describe them,” http://www.quantumlah.org/highlight/121029_hidden_influences.php

Moreover, as the following study found, the greater the number of particles in a quantum hypergraph state, (which is exactly the type of quantum coherence that we have with protein and DNA molecules), the more strongly it violates local realism, with the strength increasing exponentially with the number of particles.

Physicists find extreme violation of local realism in quantum hypergraph states - Lisa Zyga - March 4, 2016 Excerpt: Many quantum technologies rely on quantum states that violate local realism, which means that they either violate locality (such as when entangled particles influence each other from far away) or realism (the assumption that quantum states have well-defined properties, independent of measurement), or possibly both. Violation of local realism is one of the many counterintuitive, yet experimentally supported, characteristics of the quantum world. Determining whether or not multiparticle quantum states violate local realism can be challenging. Now in a new paper, physicists have shown that a large family of multiparticle quantum states called hypergraph states violates local realism in many ways. The results suggest that these states may serve as useful resources for quantum technologies, such as quantum computers and detecting gravitational waves.,,, The physicists also showed that the greater the number of particles in a quantum hypergraph state, the more strongly it violates local realism, with the strength increasing exponentially with the number of particles. In addition, even if a quantum hypergraph state loses one of its particles, it continues to violate local realism. This robustness to particle loss is in stark contrast to other types of quantum states, which no longer violate local realism if they lose a particle. This property is particularly appealing for applications, since it might allow for more noise in experiments. http://phys.org/news/2016-03-physicists-extreme-violation-local-realism.html

In short, the 'problem' of quantum non-locality is exponentially worse for Darwinian biologists than it originally was for physicist who were dealing with only two particles being entangled at a time. Darwinists, with their reductive materialistic framework, simply have no beyond space and time cause that they can appeal to so as to be able to explain the non-local quantum coherence and/or entanglement that is now found to be ubiquitous within biology. Whereas Christians readily do have a beyond space and time cause that they can appeal to so as to explain quantum entanglement. As Colossians 1:17 states, “He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.”

Colossians 1:17 He is before all things, and in him all things hold together.

It is also important to realize that quantum information is conserved. As the following article states, "In the classical world, information can be copied and deleted at will. In the quantum world, however, the conservation of quantum information means that information cannot be created nor destroyed."

Quantum no-hiding theorem experimentally confirmed for first time - 2011 Excerpt: In the classical world, information can be copied and deleted at will. In the quantum world, however, the conservation of quantum information means that information cannot be created nor destroyed. This concept stems from two fundamental theorems of quantum mechanics: the no-cloning theorem and the no-deleting theorem. A third and related theorem, called the no-hiding theorem, addresses information loss in the quantum world. According to the no-hiding theorem, if information is missing from one system (which may happen when the system interacts with the environment), then the information is simply residing somewhere else in the Universe; in other words, the missing information cannot be hidden in the correlations between a system and its environment. http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-03-quantum-no-hiding-theorem-experimentally.html

The implication of finding 'non-local', beyond space and time, and ‘conserved’, quantum information in molecular biology on such a massive scale, in every important biomolecule in our bodies, is fairly, and pleasantly, obvious. That pleasant implication, of course, being the fact that we now have very strong empirical evidence suggesting that we do indeed have an eternal soul that is capable of living beyond the death of our material bodies. As Stuart Hameroff states in the following article, “the quantum information,,, isn’t destroyed. It can’t be destroyed.,,, it's possible that this quantum information can exist outside the body. Perhaps indefinitely as a soul.”

Leading Scientists Say Consciousness Cannot Die It Goes Back To The Universe - Oct. 19, 2017 - Spiritual Excerpt: “Let’s say the heart stops beating. The blood stops flowing. The microtubules lose their quantum state. But the quantum information, which is in the microtubules, isn’t destroyed. It can’t be destroyed. It just distributes and dissipates to the universe at large. If a patient is resuscitated, revived, this quantum information can go back into the microtubules and the patient says, “I had a near death experience. I saw a white light. I saw a tunnel. I saw my dead relatives.,,” Now if they’re not revived and the patient dies, then it's possible that this quantum information can exist outside the body. Perhaps indefinitely as a soul.” - Stuart Hameroff - Quantum Entangled Consciousness - Life After Death - video (5:00 minute mark) (of note, due to copyright issues, the video is no longer available for public viewing on Youtube) https://radaronline.com/exclusives/2012/10/life-after-death-soul-science-morgan-freeman/

Verse:

Mark 8:37 Is anything worth more than your soul? Acts 17:28 For in him we live and move and have our being.’ As some of your own poets have said, ‘We are his offspring.’

bornagain77

As to these claims in the OP:

The information engine designed by SFU researchers consists of a microscopic particle immersed in water and attached to a spring which, itself, is fixed to a movable stage. Researchers then observe the particle bouncing up and down due to thermal motion. “When we see an upward bounce, we move the stage up in response,” explains lead author and PhD student Tushar Saha. “When we see a downward bounce, we wait. This ends up lifting the entire system using only information about the particle’s position.” ,,, While heavier particles can store more gravitational energy, they generally also take longer to move up.” “Guided by this insight, we picked the particle mass and other engine properties to maximize how fast the engine extracts energy, outperforming previous designs and achieving power comparable to molecular machinery in living cells, and speeds comparable to fast-swimming bacteria,” ",,, achieving power comparable to molecular machinery in living cells, and speeds comparable to fast-swimming bacteria,”

To make their claims that they achieved, (via being "attached to a spring"), "power comparable to molecular machinery in living cells, and speeds comparable to fast-swimming bacteria" even stronger, the following study of the Bacterial Flagellum found that, when realizing that "the membranes (act) as a kind of springs connecting among those motA", that the thermal noise caused by proton flux across the gradient was converted into energy that "is spent for circulating motions of motA-fliG."

Information and Energetics of Quantum Flagella Motor - 2008 Hiroyuki Matsuura, Nobuo Noda, Kazuharu Koide Tetsuya Nemoto and Yasumi Ito, Masahiro Nakano Introduction. We have been proposing mechanism of actin myosin system and proto- type quantum flagella motor system using thermal noise, which called stochastic resonance [1-4]. Generally speaking, it is said that many motor proteins utilize the energies of hydrolysis of ATP or those of gradient of proton for their motions. The actin-myosin systems of muscles need ATP molecules for the contraction of muscles. On the other hand, flagella motor commonly spends protons flux instead of ATP molecules [5-8]. However, those two systems adopt thermal noise and stochastic resonance [3,4]. Many models of flagella motor based on theories of supersonic motors have been proposed [9]. Those models are based on theories of classical rigid body and a kind of supersonic models. However, those supersonic models do not clearly refer to a role of proton flux, and they have nothing to do with quantum theory in spite of phenomena of nano-systems (Figure 1). "(a) cell-membrane, (b) motA- fliG, (c) fliF (M ring), (d) glycan layer Many motA penetrate both membranes, (a) and (d). The eight numbers of motA are imbedded into those elastic membranes. So, we can regard the membranes as a kind of springs connecting among those motA." In this paper, we show the proton flux that caused stochastic resonance between motA and springs. The vibrating motA gives rise to lattice vibration that is a kind of coherent motion. The lattice motion reduces the ground state energy, and it shifts downward to lower energy level. Thus, the energetic level of the previous ground state is higher than that of the new one. We show the stochastic resonance always emerges from phenomena of common impacts, and stochastic resonance called in micro-region corresponds to coherent state in quantum mechanics. The motA have a kind of ionic channels, and many protons collide with their walls of motA when protons go through the motA ionic channels. The collision of protons with motA being induced by electrostatic potential gradients between inner and outer cell-membranes works out the stochastic resonance (coherent state) and the reduction of the energetic level. The difference between the old energetic level and the new one, what is called, a kind of phase transition of vacuum in elementary particle physics, practices to maintain the motion of motA. The eights motA imbedded in cell-membranes make circular motions or elliptic ones. The motA contacting with a M-rings (fliF) deliver the motion of motA to the M-ring like as supersonic motors. The motA have ionic channels. The protons go through those ionic channels by electrostatic membrane potentials induced by energetic proton pumps of flagella. The FliG-motA-complex vibrate with together when protons go through ionic channel of motA 1) Protons collision causes vibrations 2) Ring chain’s vibrations are lattice motion 3) Making cooperative motions which is called stochastic resonance Excerpt from bottom of page 7 (after several pages of mathematical analysis): Note that the physical principle of flagella motor does not belong to classical mechanics, but to quantum mechanics. When we can consider applying quantum physics to flagella motor, we can find out the shift of energetic state and coherent state. In order to maintain the shift of energetic state, we recognize to utilize the proton pumps and the electrostatic membranes potential being defined by Nernst relation. 4. Summary. We proposed a model of stochastic motor, which moved by using principle of coherent state (stochastic resonance). Many protons accelerated by voltage potential difference collide with motA. The motA imbedded membranes vibrate proper frequencies. And the flagella motors begin to rotate when the motA take circular motions like as supersonic motor. Those mechanisms correspond to reduce the energetic levels (shift of energy curves) with using corelative motions. 1) The proton pumps make the electrostatic potential on the two membranes. (cell-membrane and gylcan layer) 2) Many protons inflows into flagella body through the basis of flagella. Then, the protons in the waters collide with motA imbedded in the two elastic membranes. 3) So the motA-fliG begin to select and to vibrate the proper frequencies, which is stochastic resonance in classical mechanics. 4) We showed the stochastic resonance is equal to coherent state in quantum mechanics with the way of quantum theory of the impact. 5) The coherent states reduce the old energetic level and its ground state to the new energetic level and the new ground state. We think that the energy curve shift and a phase transition are looked upon as a kind of the coherent. 6) An energy of the difference between the new energetic level and the old energetic level are released, and the energy is spent for circulating motions of motA-fliG. The motA-fliG contact with fliF (M ring), so the fliF start to rotate like as supersonic motors of traveling wave types. 7) The proton pumps continue to supply the energies for the sake of maintaining the reduction of the energy curve. http://www2.kuma.u-tokai.ac.jp/~shi/el08-046.pdf

The authors of the preceding, (fairly impressive), study also claimed that "the physical principle of flagella motor does not belong to classical mechanics, but to quantum mechanics." And to make their claim that "the physical principle of flagella motor does not belong to classical mechanics, but to quantum mechanics" even stronger, the following study, which is subtitled ‘how bio-molecular machines can generate nontrivial quantum states’, the authors state that entanglement can be maintained even in the presence of very intense noise,

Persistent dynamic entanglement from classical motion: how bio-molecular machines can generate nontrivial quantum states Gian Giacomo Guerreschi, Jianming Cai1, Sandu Popescu and Hans J Briegel Published 29 May 2012 Excerpt: Very recently (Cai et al 2010 Phys. Rev. E 82 021921), a simple mechanism was presented by which a molecule subjected to forced oscillations, out of thermal equilibrium, can maintain quantum entanglement between two of its quantum degrees of freedom. Crucially, entanglement can be maintained even in the presence of very intense noise, so intense that no entanglement is possible when the forced oscillations cease. This mechanism may allow for the presence of nontrivial quantum entanglement in biological systems. Here we significantly enlarge the study of this model. In particular, we show that the persistent generation of dynamic entanglement is not restricted to the bosonic heat bath model, but can also be observed in other decoherence models, e.g. the spin gas model, and in non-Markovian scenarios. We also show how conformational changes can be used by an elementary machine to generate entanglement even in unfavorable conditions. In biological systems, similar mechanisms could be exploited by more complex molecular machines or motors. https://iopscience.iop.org/article/10.1088/1367-2630/14/5/053043/meta

And in the following article, the authors of the preceding study even go on to state that ‘this reverses the previous orthodoxy, which held that quantum effects could not exist in biological systems because of the amount of noise in these systems’,,, Environmental noise here drives a persistent and cyclic generation of new entanglement.

Quantum entanglement in hot systems Excerpt: The authors remark that this reverses the previous orthodoxy, which held that quantum effects could not exist in biological systems because of the amount of noise in these systems,,, Environmental noise here drives a persistent and cyclic generation of new entanglement. http://quantum-mind.co.uk/quantum-entanglement-hot-systems/

Moreover, as the following article on photosynthesis stated, ' Certain biological systems living in low light environments have unique protein structures for photosynthesis that use quantum dynamics to convert 100% of absorbed light into electrical charge,,, These biological systems can direct a quantum process,,, in astoundingly subtle and controlled ways – showing remarkable resistance to the aggressive, random background noise of biology and extreme environments.'

Unlocking nature's quantum engineering for efficient solar energy - January 7, 2013 Excerpt: Certain biological systems living in low light environments have unique protein structures for photosynthesis that use quantum dynamics to convert 100% of absorbed light into electrical charge,,, "Some of the key issues in current solar cell technologies appear to have been elegantly and rigorously solved by the molecular architecture of these PPCs – namely the rapid, lossless transfer of excitons to reaction centres.",,, These biological systems can direct a quantum process, in this case energy transport, in astoundingly subtle and controlled ways – showing remarkable resistance to the aggressive, random background noise of biology and extreme environments. "This new understanding of how to maintain coherence in excitons, and even regenerate it through molecular vibrations, provides a fascinating glimpse into the intricate design solutions – seemingly including quantum engineering – ,,, and which could provide the inspiration for new types of room temperature quantum devices." http://phys.org/news/2013-01-nature-quantum-efficient-solar-energy.html

In fact, besides quantum effects being present in bio-molecular machines and in photosynthesis, quantum effects are now also found to be ubiquitous within a wide range of important biomolecules. In the following 2015 paper entitled, “Quantum criticality in a wide range of important biomolecules” it was found that “Most of the molecules taking part actively in biochemical processes are tuned exactly to the transition point and are critical conductors,” and the researchers further commented that “finding even one (biomolecule) that is in the quantum critical state by accident is mind-bogglingly small and, to all intents and purposes, impossible.,, of the order of 10^-50 of possible small biomolecules and even less for proteins,”,,,

Quantum criticality in a wide range of important biomolecules – Mar. 6, 2015 Excerpt: “Most of the molecules taking part actively in biochemical processes are tuned exactly to the transition point and are critical conductors,” they say. That’s a discovery that is as important as it is unexpected. “These findings suggest an entirely new and universal mechanism of conductance in biology very different from the one used in electrical circuits.” The permutations of possible energy levels of biomolecules is huge so the possibility of finding even one (biomolecule) that is in the quantum critical state by accident is mind-bogglingly small and, to all intents and purposes, impossible.,, of the order of 10^-50 of possible small biomolecules and even less for proteins,”,,, “what exactly is the advantage that criticality confers?” https://medium.com/the-physics-arxiv-blog/the-origin-of-life-and-the-hidden-role-of-quantum-criticality-ca4707924552

To drive this point home, this follow up 2018 article stated that “There is no obvious evolutionary reason why a protein should evolve toward a quantum-critical state, and there is no chance at all that the state could occur randomly.,,,”

Quantum Critical Proteins – Stuart Lindsay – Professor of Physics and Chemistry at Arizona State University – 2018 Excerpt: The difficulty with this proposal lies in its improbability. Only an infinitesimal density of random states exists near the critical point.,, Gábor Vattay et al. recently examined a number of proteins and conducting and insulating polymers.14 The distribution for the insulators and conductors were as expected, but the functional proteins all fell on the quantum-critical distribution. Such a result cannot be a consequence of chance.,,, WHAT OF quantum criticality? Vattay et al. carried out electronic structure calculations for the very large protein used in our work. They found that the distribution of energy-level spacings fell on exactly the quantum-critical distribution, implying that this protein is also quantum critical. There is no obvious evolutionary reason why a protein should evolve toward a quantum-critical state, and there is no chance at all that the state could occur randomly.,,, http://inference-review.com/article/quantum-critical-proteins Gábor Vattay et al., “Quantum Criticality at the Origin of Life,” Journal of Physics: Conference Series 626 (2015); Gábor Vattay, Stuart Kauffman, and Samuli Niiranen, “Quantum Biology on the Edge of Quantum Chaos,” PLOS One 9, no. 3 (2014)

bornagain77

@1 polistra I literally thought the same thing The researchers are the ones putting the energy into it AaronS1978

Well, the big problem I have with this is the use of the word "energy," which is a word that reifies a model into a thing. "Energy," like "gravity," is a model of the behavior of phenomena given certain conditions. It refers to behaviors, or potential behaviors. A better semantic phrasing would be: the observation / collection / processing of information changes the behaviors of phenomena without any physical interaction. Score another round for idealism reality theory. The reification of behaviors and behavioral models into a "physical thing" called "energy" is pure materialist habit and obfuscation. No "energy" is being used or added to any system; the behaviors of the phenomena change according to models we label as "energy." The irony is that, as models of behavior, all "energy" can be in the first place is conceptual information about the behavior of phenomena. William J Murray

Moreover, that immaterial information is now shown to have a very real ‘thermodynamic content’ now gives us an adequate explanation so as to be able to explain how life can possibly be so far out of thermodynamic equilibrium with its environment. The information content that is found to be in a simple one cell bacterium, when working from the thermodynamic perspective, is found to be around 10 to the 12 bits,,,

Biophysics – Information theory. Relation between information and entropy: – Setlow-Pollard, Ed. Addison Wesley Excerpt: Linschitz gave the figure 9.3 x 10^12 cal/deg or 9.3 x 10^12 x 4.2 joules/deg for the entropy of a bacterial cell. Using the relation H = S/(k In 2), we find that the information content is 4 x 10^12 bits. Morowitz’ deduction from the work of Bayne-Jones and Rhees gives the lower value of 5.6 x 10^11 bits, which is still in the neighborhood of 10^12 bits. Thus two quite different approaches give rather concordant figures. http://www.astroscu.unam.mx/~angel/tsb/molecular.htm

,,, Which is the equivalent of about 100 million pages of Encyclopedia Britannica. ‘In comparison,,, the largest libraries in the world,, have about 10 million volumes or 10^12 bits.”

“a one-celled bacterium, e. coli, is estimated to contain the equivalent of 100 million pages of Encyclopedia Britannica. Expressed in information in science jargon, this would be the same as 10^12 bits of information. In comparison, the total writings from classical Greek Civilization is only 10^9 bits, and the largest libraries in the world – The British Museum, Oxford Bodleian Library, New York Public Library, Harvard Widenier Library, and the Moscow Lenin Library – have about 10 million volumes or 10^12 bits.” – R. C. Wysong – The Creation-evolution Controversy ‘The information content of a simple cell has been estimated as around 10^12 bits, comparable to about a hundred million pages of the Encyclopedia Britannica.” Carl Sagan, “Life” in Encyclopedia Britannica: Macropaedia (1974 ed.), pp. 893-894

Thus since Bacterial cells are about 10 times smaller than most plant and animal cells.

Size Comparisons of Bacteria, Amoeba, Animal & Plant Cells Excerpt: Bacterial cells are very small – about 10 times smaller than most plant and animal cells. https://education.seattlepi.com/size-comparisons-bacteria-amoeba-animal-plant-cells-4966.html

And since there are conservatively estimated to be around 30 trillion cells within the average human body,

Revised Estimates for the Number of Human and Bacteria Cells in the Body – 2016 Abstract: Reported values in the literature on the number of cells in the body differ by orders of magnitude and are very seldom supported by any measurements or calculations. Here, we integrate the most up-to-date information on the number of human and bacterial cells in the body. We estimate the total number of bacteria in the 70 kg “reference man” to be 3.8·10^13. For human cells, we identify the dominant role of the hematopoietic lineage to the total count (?90%) and revise past estimates to 3.0·10^13 human cells. Our analysis also updates the widely-cited 10:1 ratio, showing that the number of bacteria in the body is actually of the same order as the number of human cells, and their total mass is about 0.2 kg. https://journals.plos.org/plosbiology/article?id=10.1371/journal.pbio.1002533

Then that gives us a rough ballpark estimate of around 300 trillion times 100 million pages of Encyclopedia Britannica. Or about 300 trillion times the information content contained within the books of all the largest libraries in the world. Needless to say, that is a massive amount of ‘positional’ information that is somehow coming into a developing embryo from the outside by some non-material method.

In the following video, Dr. Jonathan Wells, who specializes in embryology, using a branch of mathematics called category theory, demonstrates that during embryological development ‘positional information’ must somehow be coming into the developing embryo, ‘from the outside’, by some ‘non-material’ method, in order to explain the transdifferentiation of cells into their multiple different states during embryological development. Design Beyond DNA: A Conversation with Dr. Jonathan Wells – video (41:00 minute mark) – January 2017 https://youtu.be/ASAaANVBoiE?t=2484

And as the following article states, the information to build a human infant, atom by atom, would take up the equivalent of enough thumb drives to fill the Titanic, multiplied by 2,000.

In a TED Talk, (the Question You May Not Ask,,, Where did the information come from?) – November 29, 2017 Excerpt: Sabatini is charming.,,, he deploys some memorable images. He points out that the information to build a human infant, atom by atom, would take up the equivalent of enough thumb drives to fill the Titanic, multiplied by 2,000. Later he wheels out the entire genome, in printed form, of a human being,,,,: [F]or the first time in history, this is the genome of a specific human, printed page-by-page, letter-by-letter: 262,000 pages of information, 450 kilograms.,,, https://evolutionnews.org/2017/11/in-a-ted-talk-heres-the-question-you-may-not-ask/

So the question becomes, since information must be coming into a developing embryo from the outside by some 'non-material' method, in order to explain exactly why life is so far out of thermodynamic equilibrium, exactly where is this vast amount of 'immaterial information' coming from? Well, Christian Theists just so happen to have postulated a source, and/or cause, for this vast amount of immaterial information that is coming into a developing embryo , 'from the outside', for thousands of years.

Psalm 139:13-14 For you created my inmost being; you knit me together in my mother’s womb. I will praise You, for I am fearfully and wonderfully made; Marvelous are Your works, And that my soul knows very well. John 1:1-4 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God. He was with God in the beginning. Through him all things were made; without him nothing was made that has been made. In him was life, and that life was the light of all mankind.

bornagain77

Moreover, around 2016, the Maxwell demon thought experiment was extended, "to build “a tiny machine powered purely by information, which chilled metal through the power of its knowledge.”

New Scientist astounds: Information is physical – May 13, 2016 Excerpt: Recently came the most startling demonstration yet: a tiny machine powered purely by information, which chilled metal through the power of its knowledge. This seemingly magical device could put us on the road to new, more efficient nanoscale machines, a better understanding of the workings of life, and a more complete picture of perhaps our most fundamental theory of the physical world. https://uncommondesc.wpengine.com/news/new-scientist-astounds-information-is-physical/

And as the following 2016 article stated, “Running a brain-twisting thought experiment for real shows that information is a physical thing”,,

Matter, energy… knowledge: – May 11, 2016 Running a brain-twisting thought experiment for real shows that information is a physical thing – so can we now harness the most elusive entity in the cosmos? https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23030730-200-demon-no-more-physics-most-elusive-entity-gives-up-its-secret/

Moreover, the following 2017 article, (commenting on the fact that “a single-ion engine and three-atom fridge were both experimentally realized for the first time within the past year”) stated that: James Clerk Maxwell (said), “The idea of dissipation of energy depends on the extent of our knowledge.”,,, quantum information theory,,, describes the spread of information through quantum systems.,,, Fifteen years ago, “we thought of entropy as a property of a thermodynamic system,” he said. “Now in (quantum) information theory, we wouldn’t say entropy is a property of a system, but a property of an observer who describes a system.”,,,

The Quantum Thermodynamics Revolution – May 2017 Excerpt: the 19th-century physicist James Clerk Maxwell put it, “The idea of dissipation of energy depends on the extent of our knowledge.” In recent years, a revolutionary understanding of thermodynamics has emerged that explains this subjectivity using quantum information theory — “a toddler among physical theories,” as del Rio and co-authors put it, that describes the spread of information through quantum systems. Just as thermodynamics initially grew out of trying to improve steam engines, today’s thermodynamicists are mulling over the workings of quantum machines. Shrinking technology — a single-ion engine and three-atom fridge were both experimentally realized for the first time within the past year — is forcing them to extend thermodynamics to the quantum realm, where notions like temperature and work lose their usual meanings, and the classical laws don’t necessarily apply. They’ve found new, quantum versions of the laws that scale up to the originals. Rewriting the theory from the bottom up has led experts to recast its basic concepts in terms of its subjective nature, and to unravel the deep and often surprising relationship between energy and information — the abstract 1s and 0s by which physical states are distinguished and knowledge is measured.,,, Renato Renner, a professor at ETH Zurich in Switzerland, described this as a radical shift in perspective. Fifteen years ago, “we thought of entropy as a property of a thermodynamic system,” he said. “Now in (quantum) information theory, we wouldn’t say entropy is a property of a system, but a property of an observer who describes a system.”,,, https://www.quantamagazine.org/quantum-thermodynamics-revolution/

Again to repeat that last sentence, “Now in (quantum) information theory, we wouldn’t say entropy is a property of a system, but a property of an observer who describes a system.,,,” That statement is simply completely devastating to the materialistic claims of Darwinists who try to claim that immaterial information in life not the property of a immaterial mind and that immaterial information is not physically real but that the immaterial information in life is just a ‘metaphor’. Moreover in 2018, “Physicists have experimentally demonstrated an information engine—a device that converts information into work—with an efficiency that exceeds the conventional second law of thermodynamics.”

Information engine operates with nearly perfect efficiency – Lisa Zyga – January 19, 2018 Excerpt: Physicists have experimentally demonstrated an information engine—a device that converts information into work—with an efficiency that exceeds the conventional second law of thermodynamics. Instead, the engine’s efficiency is bounded by a recently proposed generalized second law of thermodynamics, and it is the first information engine to approach this new bound.,,, https://phys.org/news/2018-01-efficiency.html

And as the present article in the OP states, (via knowledge of a particle’s position), researchers built a Information engine that achieves “power comparable to molecular machinery in living cells, and speeds comparable to fast-swimming bacteria,”

World’s fastest information-fuelled engine designed by SFU researchers – May 11, 2021 Excerpt: Simon Fraser University researchers have designed a remarkably fast engine that taps into a new kind of fuel — information. The development of this engine, which converts the random jiggling of a microscopic particle into stored energy, is outlined in research published this week in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and could lead to significant advances in the speed and cost of computers and bio-nanotechnologies. SFU physics professor and senior author John Bechhoefer says researchers’ understanding of how to rapidly and efficiently convert information into “work” may inform the design and creation of real-world information engines. “We wanted to find out how fast an information engine can go and how much energy it can extract, so we made one,” says Bechhoefer, whose experimental group collaborated with theorists led by SFU physics professor David Sivak. Engines of this type were first proposed over 150 years ago, (via Maxwell), but actually making them has only recently become possible. “By systematically studying this engine, and choosing the right system characteristics, we have pushed its capabilities over ten times farther than other similar implementations, thus making it the current best-in-class,” says Sivak. The information engine designed by SFU researchers consists of a microscopic particle immersed in water and attached to a spring which, itself, is fixed to a movable stage. Researchers then observe the particle bouncing up and down due to thermal motion. “When we see an upward bounce, we move the stage up in response,” explains lead author and PhD student Tushar Saha. “When we see a downward bounce, we wait. This ends up lifting the entire system using only information about the particle’s position.” Repeating this procedure, they raise the particle “a great height, and thus store a significant amount of gravitational energy,” without having to directly pull on the particle. Saha further explains that, “in the lab, we implement this engine with an instrument known as an optical trap, which uses a laser to create a force on the particle that mimics that of the spring and stage.” Joseph Lucero, a Master of Science student adds, “in our theoretical analysis, we find an interesting trade-off between the particle mass and the average time for the particle to bounce up. While heavier particles can store more gravitational energy, they generally also take longer to move up.”?? “Guided by this insight, we picked the particle mass and other engine properties to maximize how fast the engine extracts energy, outperforming previous designs and achieving power comparable to molecular machinery in living cells, and speeds comparable to fast-swimming bacteria,” says postdoctoral fellow Jannik Ehrich. https://www.sfu.ca/university-communications/issues-experts/2021/05/world-s-fastest-information-fuelled-engine-designed-by-sfu-resea.html

HUH? “achieving power comparable to molecular machinery in living cells, and speeds comparable to fast-swimming bacteria,”,”??? That finding should literally make a Darwinian materialist's head spin. The molecular machines in life are, comparatively speaking, found to be far more efficient and powerful than any machine man has thus far intelligently designed. And now we find that these molecular machines are achieving this astonishing level of efficiency and power via information. i.e. They literally call the device they built an 'information engine'! Again, that finding should literally make a Darwinian materialist's head spin. A few years back, Darwinists right here on UD had previously tried to argue that life was not really based on information, (as ID advocates hold), but that life was really just based on 'complicated chemistry', and not on information, and that they could get along just as well without even using the word 'information" at all. Hubert P. Yockey himself, (who worked under Robert Oppenheimer on the Manhattan Project), had to defend against the Darwinian claim that the term ‘information’, as it is applied to life, is merely a "synonym, metaphor, or analogy."

Information Theory, Evolution, and the Origin of Life – Hubert P. Yockey, 2005 Excerpt: “Information, transcription, translation, code, redundancy, synonymous, messenger, editing, and proofreading are all appropriate terms in biology. They take their meaning from information theory (Shannon, 1948) and are not synonyms, metaphors, or analogies.” http://www.cambridge.org/catalogue/catalogue.asp?isbn=9780521802932&ss=exc

So these ‘beautiful’ experimental demonstrations showing that immaterial information has a “thermodynamic content’, (contrary to what Polistra implied), is not a minor development as far as the debate between Intelligent Design and Darwinian Evolution is concerned concerning the physical reality of immaterial information. In short, although information is immaterial in its fundamental nature, and directly contrary to the materialistic claims of Darwinists, is still very much a physically real entity that has a very real, 'thermodynamic', effect on material particles! bornagain77

Polistra states, "In other words, WE are putting energy into the system. This is SILLY." Yet the article itself states, "No work is done directly on the bead; instead, all dissipation occurs in the measuring apparatus." And via wikipedia on Szilard's engine we find that, "In just the right circumstances therefore, the possession of a single bit of Shannon information,, really does correspond to a reduction in the entropy of the physical system. The global entropy is not decreased, but information to free energy conversion is possible.

Entropy in thermodynamics and information theory Excerpt: Szilard's engine A physical thought experiment demonstrating how just the possession of information might in principle have thermodynamic consequences was established in 1929 by Leó Szilárd, in a refinement of the famous Maxwell's demon scenario. Consider Maxwell's set-up, but with only a single gas particle in a box. If the supernatural demon knows which half of the box the particle is in (equivalent to a single bit of information), it can close a shutter between the two halves of the box, close a piston unopposed into the empty half of the box, and then extract kBTln2 joules of useful work if the shutter is opened again. The particle can then be left to isothermally expand back to its original equilibrium occupied volume. In just the right circumstances therefore, the possession of a single bit of Shannon information (a single bit of negentropy in Brillouin's term) really does correspond to a reduction in the entropy of the physical system. The global entropy is not decreased, but information to free energy conversion is possible. Using a phase-contrast microscope equipped with a high speed camera connected to a computer, as demon, the principle has been actually demonstrated.[4] In this experiment, information to energy conversion is performed on a Brownian particle by means of feedback control; that is, synchronizing the work given to the particle with the information obtained on its position. Computing energy balances for different feedback protocols, has confirmed that the Jarzynski equality requires a generalization that accounts for the amount of information involved in the feedback. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Entropy_in_thermodynamics_and_information_theory#Szilard's_engine [4] Shoichi Toyabe; Takahiro Sagawa; Masahito Ueda; Eiro Muneyuki; Masaki Sano (2010-09-29). "Information heat engine: converting information to energy by feedback control". Nature Physics. 6 (12): 988–992. arXiv:1009.5287. Bibcode:2011NatPh...6..988T. doi:10.1038/nphys1821. We demonstrated that free energy is obtained by a feedback control using the information about the system; information is converted to free energy, as the first realization of Szilard-type Maxwell’s demon.

Thus, contrary to what Polistra claimed, "WE are NOT putting energy into a system", but "dissipation occurs in the measuring apparatus" outside the system. Whereas within the system, "information to energy conversion is performed",,, In the following article about the 2010 experiment, the experiment which wikipedia referenced, they state, "Scientists in Japan are the first to have succeeded in converting information into free energy,,, Until now, demonstrating the conversion of information to energy has been elusive,,, the team was able to measure precisely how much energy had been converted from information."

Maxwell’s demon demonstration (knowledge of a particle’s position) turns information into energy – November 2010 Excerpt: Scientists in Japan are the first to have succeeded in converting information into free energy in an experiment that verifies the “Maxwell demon” thought experiment devised in 1867.,,, In Maxwell’s thought experiment the demon creates a temperature difference simply from information about the gas molecule temperatures and without transferring any energy directly to them.,,, Until now, demonstrating the conversion of information to energy has been elusive, but University of Tokyo physicist Masaki Sano and colleagues have succeeded in demonstrating it in a nano-scale experiment. In a paper published in Nature Physics they describe how they coaxed a Brownian particle to travel upwards on a “spiral-staircase-like” potential energy created by an electric field solely on the basis of information on its location. As the particle traveled up the staircase it gained energy from moving to an area of higher potential, and the team was able to measure precisely how much energy had been converted from information. http://www.physorg.com/news/2010-11-maxwell-demon-energy.html

As Christopher Jarzynski, who was instrumental in formulating the 'equation to define the amount of energy that could theoretically be converted from a unit of information', stated, “This is a beautiful experimental demonstration that information has a thermodynamic content,”

Demonic device converts information to energy – 2010 Excerpt: “This is a beautiful experimental demonstration that information has a thermodynamic content,” says Christopher Jarzynski, a statistical chemist at the University of Maryland in College Park. In 1997, Jarzynski formulated an equation to define the amount of energy that could theoretically be converted from a unit of information2; the work by Sano and his team has now confirmed this equation. “This tells us something new about how the laws of thermodynamics work on the microscopic scale,” says Jarzynski. http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=demonic-device-converts-inform

Thus, despite Polistra's knee jerk reaction to label these experiments as "SILLY", and therefore inconsequential, the implications of these experiments, as far as the physical reality of immaterial information is concerned, and as far as the debate between Darwinian evolution and Intelligent Design is concerned, are huge. Darwinists, (and reductive materialists in general), have resolutely denied the independent physical reality of immaterial information, (which is separate from matter and energy). Rolf Landauer himself held information to be physical, (i.e. to be reducible to matter and energy), because it always took energy to erase it from a computer. (Landauer's principle) In fact, Rolf Landauer went so far as to say that Roger Penrose's contention that immaterial information has an existence independent of matter and energy was a quote unquote 'quaint notion'.

Information is a Physical Entity - Rolf Landauer Excerpt: Information is inevitably inscribed in a physical medium. It is not an abstract entity. It can be denoted by a hole in a punched card, by the orientation of a nuclear spin, or by the pulses transmitted by a neuron. The quaint notion that information has an existence independent of its physical manifestation is still seriously advocated [6],,, [6] R. Penrose, The Emperor's New Mind, Oxford University Press, Oxford, 1989. http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.192.2928&rep=rep1&type=pdf "Those devices (computers) can yield only approximations to a structure (of information) that has a deep and "computer independent" existence of its own." - Roger Penrose - The Emperor's New Mind - Pg 147

Yet contrary to what Landauer and other reductive materialists may believe, there is much evidence that now establishes the physical reality of immaterial information which is independent of matter and energy. As the following article entitled, "Scientists show how to erase information without using energy" stated, “Landauer said that information is physical because it takes energy to erase it. We are saying that the reason it (information) is physical has a broader context than that.”

Scientists show how to erase information without using energy – January 2011 Excerpt: Until now, scientists have thought that the process of erasing information requires energy. But a new study shows that, theoretically, information can be erased without using any energy at all.,,, “Landauer said that information is physical because it takes energy to erase it. We are saying that the reason it (information) is physical has a broader context than that.”, Vaccaro explained. http://www.physorg.com/news/2011-01-scientists-erase-energy.html

The easiest way to demonstrate the physical reality of immaterial information, information which is independent of matter and energy, is with quantum teleportation. And as the following 2009 article stated. “scientists have successfully teleported information between two separate atoms in unconnected enclosures a meter apart,,, information,,, is transferred from one place to another, but without traveling through any physical medium.”

First Teleportation Between Distant Atoms – 2009 Excerpt: For the first time, scientists have successfully teleported information between two separate atoms in unconnected enclosures a meter apart – a significant milestone in the global quest for practical quantum information processing. Teleportation may be nature’s most mysterious form of transport: Quantum information, such as the spin of a particle or the polarization of a photon, is transferred from one place to another, but without traveling through any physical medium. It has previously been achieved between photons over very large distances, between photons and ensembles of atoms, and between two nearby atoms through the intermediary action of a third. None of those, however, provides a feasible means of holding and managing quantum information over long distances. Now a team from the Joint Quantum Institute (JQI) at the University of Maryland (UMD) and the University of Michigan has succeeded in teleporting a quantum state directly from one atom to another over a substantial distance https://jqi.umd.edu/news/first-teleportation-between-distant-atoms

And as the following 2016 article stated, “the photons aren’t disappearing from one place and appearing in another. Instead, it’s the information that’s being teleported through quantum entanglement.,,, it is only the information that gets teleported from one place to another."

Quantum Teleportation Enters the Real World – September 19, 2016 Excerpt: Two separate teams of scientists have taken quantum teleportation from the lab into the real world. Researchers working in Calgary, Canada and Hefei, China, used existing fiber optics networks to transmit small units of information across cities via quantum entanglement — Einstein’s “spooky action at a distance.”,,, This isn’t teleportation in the “Star Trek” sense — the photons aren’t disappearing from one place and appearing in another. Instead, it’s the information that’s being teleported through quantum entanglement.,,, ,,, it is only the information that gets teleported from one place to another. https://www.discovermagazine.com/d-brief/2016/09/19/quantum-teleportation-enters-real-world/#.V-HqWNEoDtR

bornagain77

"When we see the particle move up, we move the stage." In other words, WE are putting energy into the system. This is SILLY. You can get a similar effect without the human input by rigging up an asymmetrical inertial driver on a surface with static friction. The inertial machine will overcome the static friction on its fast-push side, and stay in place on its slow-push side. This was the Dean Drive, which "walked" across a surface but wasn't useful in open space. An unbalanced top-loading washer is a Dean Drive. polistra