Something about Information by Georgina Parry

Georgina,

Sorry to hear about the health problems, but sympathize entirely. This whole life business is like walking on thin ice. I'm only here because parts of my brian like it as entertainment and I can't get too frustrated that few people take me seriously because there isn't a lot I can afford to take seriously, beyond family and work.

I have to say though, I've long felt I am living on borrowed time, for a number of reasons. (Just got smacked on the ground, mostly head first, by a two year old colt yesterday and since I'm epileptic and I was out riding with my daughter and a cardiologist neighbor, it was a lot of stress situation. Fortunately its rainy and the ground is soft.)

Used to do drugs to escape reality. Now I do them to stay in reality.

Best wishes!

Dear Georgina,

It was good to read your essay and realize you are a realist: "Atoms are not imaginary things. They can be seen..." "The information directs the building of the form, but the information is nothing without the thing that carries it," ... "There can be no code without something to embody the code."

I also agree with "the world of quantum mechanics is not the external reality that exists but it is the theoretical 'world' built up from the measurement and counting of many binary choices..." [and] "they must always be probabilities for something." And finally, Barbour's "'bits' are nothing without 'its'. So its are more fundamental."

You conclude that "matter is directed by information and would not exist in that form without it."

I would probably say that "matter is transformed by energy, and the transformation (change in form) becomes a record of the energy in-forming the matter, hence in-form-ation."

Thanks for continuing to participate in these fqxi contests. And for reading and commenting on my essay. Good luck in the contest. Saw your note to John and hope you're soon firing on all cylinders.

Have fun,

Edwin Eugene Klingman

Dear Madam,

Regarding your comment: "it isn't the experienced present that is "really real", you must remember that we live in present and experience something about the past. Present is the flitting interface between past and future. Since it is ever shifting, it has no position like space. We have discussed it in our essay as follows:

Experience is the perception of result of measurement (includes observation). The result of measurement is always related to a time t, and is frozen for use at later times t1, t2, etc, when the object has evolved further. All other unknown states are combined together and are called superposition of states. Hence there is an uncertainty inherent in it, which Shannon calls entropy. In perception, the concept remains in a superposition of states and collapses in response to some stimuli. In information technology, the updating is done by an agent. In perception, it is done by the neural network and memory. All information has a source rate (complexity) that can be measured in bits per second (speed) and requires a transmission channel (mode) with a capacity equal to or greater than the source rate (intelligence or memory level). In perception, these are the intelligence level and mind.

Regards,

basudeba

Thanks Madam,

There is only one present - it is the fleeting interface between past and future. We live in present. As you put it - it is the manifestation that we observe that is *called* the present. We take the measurement or observe at present, but by the time we cognize it, the object has evolved further. Thus, we perceive its state as it was in the past.

Regards,

basudeba

Dear Georgina -

I found your biological perspective rare and refreshing. I believe that the It-Bit question needs to be considered in all the fields that affect our interpretation of the Cosmos, including the biological and cognitive fields.

Your section on 'numbers and noise' reminds us that information is determined by the recipient - a concept I extend into a paradigm that defines our Cosmos more precisely as a 'Species Cosmos', something you deal with also - in your treatment of superpositions.

I propose a structure founded on the concept that all is energy, even information and abstractions, and that all perceived energy manifests in physical form (even information). Even though the particles involved in cognition are still elusive, there is much we can say about the physicality of cognitive reality.

This means that, like you, I give information a more tangible definition than mere probabilities. In fact, I describe the cosmos in terms of Inorganic, Organic, and Sensory-Cognitive Vortices of energy, and describe each in physical terms.

I show that these Vortices are correlated but distinct fields, interacting directly with the greater field of energy from which the Cosmos emerges.

These three fields remain distinct from one another - that is, they do not interact directly - and I describe how this creates the correlation of It and Bit (rather than any type of sequential relationship) over the course of evolution. You conclude along similar lines - "'It from Bit' and 'Bit from It', together."

Indeed, It and Bit are continually altering their relationship: information is 'shaping itself' - as do Inorganic and Organic phenomena over the course of evolution. This has an impact on the question of meaning (which you cover most interestingly); since the Inorganic, Organic, and Sensory-Cognitive Vortices are equally fundamental - the Cosmos develops life, and the cognition associated with living things, as inevitably as it develops matter from energy. This in turn imbues all things with direction and meaning, though in the context of a 'Species Cosmos' - which finally is the only context we know.

Yours is a valuable 'real world' interpretation of things, I hope you'll find mine to be of interest to you, too.

All the best,

John.

Hi Georgina,

It is always good to meet such an active participant on FQXi with explicit ideas. Like your earlier essays I liked this one too, although the former was more mindbending (with its 3-D illustration that you made later).

After the O of INFO you stopped , perhaps the RMATION became too long, just an idea to continue:

R for Reason

M for Moral

A for Artificial Intellgence

T for TIME

I for Intelligence

O for Ohmega

N for Noether...

Something came to my mind when I read your essay, the information as it is processed by a machine is only processed when a button is pushed by a human being, while with the human being the buttons are his five senses...

I hope that will also take some of your time to read my entrance and perhaps rate and comment it, As your essay inspired me I also rated it satisfactory.

good luch and best regards

Wilhelmus

and even to make it more easier :

click on this link

Wilhelmus

Dear Georgina . Hello, hoping this finds you well and apologies if this does not apply to you. I have read and rated your essay and about 50 others. If you have not rated my essay The Cloud of Unknowing please consider doing so. With best wishes.

Vladimir

Nice work Georgina.

An interesting and fun to read essay. I especially liked the part about object information not being stored as a single bundle of information, but rather as a web of connections and relationships. That is something I learned but neglected to mention in my essay, which you are invited to read and comment on. Your opinion is always most welcome, and this year's topic and essays recommend a cross-disciplinary analysis of such things, which both you and I provide. I wish you good luck in the contest.

All the Best,

Jonathan

Hello Georgina,

I have read with allowances for your analytical essay written lively figurative language. World contests FQXi - it contests new fundamental ideas, new deep meanings and new concepts. In your essay deep analysis in the basic strategy of Descartes's method of doubt, given new ideas, images and conclusions.

Perfect conclusion: «The material world is not static but in constant activity. Forming a cycle. Information can direct the formation of structures and configurations of matter and the structure and configuration of matter provides both forces and information for further change. The forces drive change, (they make change happen), and the information directs what change can occur, producing a new output structure or configuration. »

Constructive ways to the truth may be different. One of them said Alexander Zenkin in the article "Science counterrevolution in mathematics":

«The truth should be drawn with the help of the cognitive computer visualization technology and should be presented to" an unlimited circle "of spectators in the form of color-musical cognitive images of its immanent essence.» Http :/ / www.ccas. ru/alexzen/papers/ng-02/contr_rev.htm

Do you agree with Alexander Zenkin?

And the second question: Why the picture of the world of physicists poorer meanings than the picture of the world lyricists? http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H3ho31QhjsY

I'll put a rating of "happy nine" ...

Please read my essay. I think we are the same in the spirit of our research.

Best regards,

Vladimir

Dear Georgina and All,

I am attaching the iDNASeries.bmp that I have envisioned and how it shows the DNA structure in its sequence.

I give you all a cosmological iSeries which spans the entire numerical spectrum from -infinity through 0 to +infinity and the simple principle underlying it is sum of any two consecutive numbers is the next number in the series. 0 is the base seed and i can be any seed between 0 and infinity.

iSeries always yields two sub semi series, each of which has 0 as a base seed and 2i as the first seed.

One of the sub series is always defined by the equation

Sn = 2 * Sn-1 + Sigma (i=2 to n) Sn-i

where S0 = 0 and S1 = 2 * i

the second sub series is always defined by the equation

Sn = 3 * Sn-1 -Sn-2

where S0 = 0 and S1 = 2 * i

Division of consecutive numbers in each of these subseries always eventually converges on 2.168 which is the Square of 1.618.

Union of these series always yields another series which is just a new iSeries of a 2i first seed and can be defined by the universal equation

Sn = Sn-1 + Sn-2

where S0 = 0 and S1 = 2*i

Division of consecutive numbers in the merged series always eventually converges on 1.618 which happens to be the golden ratio "Phi".

Fibonacci series is just a subset of the iSeries where the first seed or S1 =1.

Examples

starting iSeries governed by Sn = Sn-1 + Sn-2

where i = 0.5, S0 = 0 and S1 = 0.5

-27.5 17 -10.5 6.5 -4 2.5 -1.5 1 -.5 .5 0 .5 .5 1 1.5 2.5 4 6.5 10.5 17 27.5

Sub series governed by Sn = 2 * Sn-1 + Sigma (i=2 to n) Sn-i

where S0 = 0 and S1 = 2i = 1

0 1 2 5 13 34 ...

Sub series governed by Sn = 3 * Sn-1 - Sn-2

where S0 = 0 and S1 = 2i = 1

0 1 3 8 21 55 ...

Merged series governed by Sn = Sn-1 + Sn-2 where S0 = 0 and S1 = 2i = 1

0 1 1 2 3 5 8 13 21 34 55 ...... (Fibonacci series is a subset of iSeries)

The above equations hold true for any value of I.

As per Antony Ryan's suggestion, I searched google to see how Fibonacci type series can be used to explain Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity and found an interesting article.

The-Fibonacci-code-behind-superstringtheory

Now that I split the Fibonacci series in to two semi series, seems like each of the sub semi series corresponds to QM and GR and together they explain the Quantum Gravity. Seems like this duality is a commonality in nature once relativity takes effect or a series is kicked off from a basic singularity. The only commonality between the two series is at the base seed 0 (singularity) and first seed 1, which are the bits in our binary system.

Its also interesting to see the singularity is in the base seed of zero and how it is all pervasive all through out the DNA structure in the attached image. I have been telling that I is that nothing which dwells in everything and this DNA structure seems to prove that notion. Singularity is right with in the duality. Absolute is right with in the relativity. This proves that both of these states of singularity and duality are interconnected and are the source of life.

Love,

Sridattadev.Attachment #1: 4_iDNASeries.bmp

Ms. Parry,

I thought your essay was splendid. It held my interest from the first word to the last. Will you please allow this decrepit old realist to make a comment about it without becoming unduly upset?

You wrote: "It is wrong to think that the task of the physicist is to find out how nature is."

It is not wrong, it is totally impossible for any physicist to find out anything about nature for as I have pointed out in my essay BITTERS, nature is unique, once.

Each real snowflake is unique, once. Each real molecule of each real snowflake is unique, once. The only question Wheeler ought to have asked was;

Is the real Universe simple? Yes

Is the abstract universe simple? No.

Is real unique, once simple? Yes

Is abstract quantum theory simple? No.

I do wish you the best of luck in the contest.

Joe

Hi Georgina,

Good to see you in another contest. I like your latest essay, very readable and informative.

1. Perhaps it should have been titled "Everything About Information"

2. I think it is the only essay that mentions the concept of noise at all. Shannon's mission for the phone company was to get information out of noise. If we look at the entries in this contest many of the entries are informational some are ... well .....noisy. Check my essay out and tell me if it is ... well.... noisy :)

Giving you the best mark, And wishing you the best recovery.

Don Limuti