I liked the essay, but find these essays hard to rate. While this and others explore the area, they don't really seem to come to grips with the core aspects, in the same way that brought Hume to say 'Consign it then to the flames: For it can contain nothing but sophistry and illusion.'

This is a general comment, not specific to this essay. This was one of the better essays, I felt.

The connection between minds and worlds, under the GPE (see my essay) is that the Harmony Set may have several equivalent interpretations in the same way that a top hat functions can be replaced by a Fourier series, or redistributed values in higher dimensions. Which interpretation is the 'right' one? None. Which has priority, or is the foundational space? None. But these spaces are ontologically locked together. One might propose that one of these interpretations gives rise to mind.

Stephen Anastasi.

    Thank you Stephen,

    I appreciate the thoughtful remarks. I agree that with a more philosophical entry it is harder to say 'it is right or wrong.' I'll have a go at your essay soon, and comment there.

    All the Best,

    Jonathan

    Dear Jonathan,

    "certain regularities of Math have a life of their own, and influence or shape the laws of physics", I fully agree but the unknowable is that it works.

    In my essay the Riemann sphere rigidified at three points is a very regular mathematical object, introduced by Grothendieck, that plays the role of measurement space for multiple qubits. To use your language the form is the 'dessin' on the rigidified sphere (or may be the stabilized geometry of observables) and the information is encoded at the extremities of its edges.

    "The acquisition of object constancy, which takes place in early childhood...", may be you implicitely refer, and without knowing it, to Grothendieck's 'dessins d'enfants'.

    Good luck,

    Michel

      Dear Jonathan,

      Another excellent essay! Not only do I agree with your previous conclusion of analogue and digital, but that reality and information are also too intertwined to separate. My essay also concludes not to have either more fundamental. The child like thinking is a good reminder that we need to keep things simple and reach conclusions based on the simplest explanations.

      Nice read too!

      Very well done.

      Best wishes,

      Antony

        Thank you Michel,

        Grothendieck was a master at discovering the roots of things, where others would spot only the flowers. And of course; his insight that it was children's play with forms that would reveal those roots is priceless. Too often, adults forget the intelligence of play, or the wisdom of the very young, in their hubris to believe adult understanding is better, but sometimes the drawings of children reveal things most adults cannot understand.

        I shall examine some of the material I just found on the 'dessins d'enfants' and also take the time to read your essay Michel. I appreciate your thoughtful comments.

        All the Best,

        Jonathan

        Thank you Antony!

        Your kind remarks and high regard are appreciated. Of course; some things are only apparent to a child like mind, and others can't grasp them because their understanding is too sophisticated or developed in a particular groove. Alison Gopnik suggests as a metaphor that children use a lantern to learn, while adults prefer a spotlight. There is a lot us older folks miss that way.

        Your essay is still on my list of papers to read, but I hope to get there soon.

        Have Fun!

        Jonathan

        Hi Jonathan,

        I always appreciate that you don't dodge the biggest questions: "Does life descend to play in or with form, bestowing consciousness and creativity? Or does form rise and evolve to acquire these attributes, so it may play in the heavens?"

        You allow that science takes the latter course. Things are changing, though -- in complex systems models of laterally integrated information, those upper and lower bounds of agent awareness and action are not so clear. What is becoming clear, through high tech data analysis of interacting systems, is that hubs of activity that control the system's output through negative feedback constantly shift position.* Most remarkably, the most drastic changes are on the shortest intervals of observation, while the system shows little change on the longer scale. Hence, your dance of creation.

        "In considering the question 'It from Bit, or Bit from It?' one must always ask 'With respect to what?' The question is undecidable otherwise, as it is essential to understand that entities or systems can have a dual role, and can in fact be a blend of It/Bit flavors ..."

        Nice. I am reminded of a recent U.S. president who assigned to himself the role of "decider," in vain. He should have taken a lesson from King Canute, standing in the surf and commanding the ocean waves to roll back. I expect the next chapter of human history will be one of cooperation, the only decision that really needs to be consciously made.

        All best,

        Tom

        *See, e..g., Braha & Bar-Yam, "From Centrality to Temporary Fame: Dynamic Centrality in Complex Networks." Complexity vol 12, no 2, pp 59-63. [2006]

          Dear Jonathan,

          I have down loaded your essay and soon post my comments on it. Meanwhile, please, go through my essay and post your comments.

          Regards and good luck in the contest.

          Sreenath BN.

          http://fqxi.org/community/forum/topic/1827

            Thanks greatly Tom,

            Astute observations about the short scale vs long scale activity within a system. This appears to be more or less universal. As you say, the most drastic changes often happen on a short interval, and go unnoticed if one's observation considers only longer time scale phenomena.

            Non-linear entropy is observed mostly when you take things that appear to happen instantaneously, and re-examine that behavior in terms of reciprocal exchanges. It's not instant at all, and involves a lot of back and forth activity, but it does happen very fast. Decoherence happens quicker still, but a closer examination shows us that is a dance as well.

            However one would never know it is a complex phenomenon, without examining large excursions that happen in a short time more closely.

            All the Best,

            Jonathan

            Thank you Sreenath,

            I have downloaded all of the essays at this point. I look forward to reading your essay, and I will post a few comments on your page once I do so.

            Have Fun!

            Jonathan

            I had a delightful excursion into your Mandelbrot slides. And then I surfed over to Joselle Kehoe's blog (my first exposure), where an archived article on Gregory Chaitin's new book (*Proving Darwin*) caught my eye. After noting Chaitin's wonderfully phrased philosophy: "Each time mathematics faces a significantly new challenge, it transforms itself." Joselle follows up with her view:

            "The idea that life itself is creativity, and that our knowledge of it is always incomplete, is a view of things that I believe mathematics easily inspires. My own experience with mathematics has always led me in this direction, both within the confines of my very personal experience as well as when I explore ideas in science, philosophy and art. It's a provocative and optimistic view. Mathematics seems to be coming from us, yet it keeps giving us images of the larger thing of which we are a part, to the point of showing us that we can never fully know that larger thing. We are seeing something about us and the world."

            I so agree. Some say the Mandelbrot set is the most complicated object in mathematics. Actually, my vote for that honor is Chaitin's Omega number. Both objects, though, inform us that everything we are certain about is history -- a history that continuously creates infinite bifurcating trajectories. Only the hidden patterns of self similarity gives us even a hint of the global reality.

            All best,

            Tom

            Wow! Thanks Tom..

            I appreciate affirmation of value in the insights offered, and the hearty 'Hi Ho' that your comments indicate and inspire.

            Have Fun!

            Jonathan

            Jonathan,

            You provide a generalist's perspective to a bunch of specialists. As I like to rib Tom, Generals run armies. Specialists are somewhere between corporal and private.

            Regards,

            John

            Jonathan,

            I have received word that although it was unfortunate that there was a delay in conducting the ratings, no extensions to the final deadline will be made. I will keep this in mind when I get a chance to review your essay later this week.

            Best wishes,

            Manuel

            I guess that's what you mean by 'general agreement,' John. (tongue firmly in cheek)

            Regards,

            Jonathan

            Hi again Jonathan,

            I hope I find time to read your essay thoroughly. I only had time to browse through it today, but it was very interesting and refreshing. The first words to really catch my attention were "Does life descend to play in or with form, bestowing consciousness and creativity? Or does form rise and evolve to acquire

            these attributes, so it may play in the heavens?" Therefore, it reminds me of William Shakespeare's lines -

            All the world's a stage,

            And all the men and women merely players.

            They have their exits and their entrances;

            And one man in his time plays many parts.

            Today, life has you and I playing a part on FQXi's stage.

            Best wishes,

            Rodney

              Hello Jonathan,

              A nice contribution. To distill some truths from your essay, I quote excerpts and follow with remarks.

              RE: "it is reasonable to observe that an ongoing interplay between 'It from Bit' and 'Bit from It' is an essential part of the natural order, and that this exchange of modalities is more fundamental than either view is on its own"

              Quite correct.

              RE: "the notion of 'Bit' has been generalized to include a broader spectrum of information types, and I think this is wise - because information does not always fit into conveniently-sized packages"; "...if we allow a sufficiently broad definition for quantifiable information..."; "There is always an interplay between information becoming stuff, and stuff becoming information"; "While it is quite clear that information of some nature does give rise to the universe of form, thus fulfilling Wheeler's vision of 'It from Bit',"

              From all these, would you consider 'existence'/'non-existence' as a binary choice? Many have conceded to including this as information on this FQXi forum. Then given that what exists must have extension, no matter how minute and what does not exist would not occupy space, your ideas may coincide with mine here.

              RE: "In relation to 'It from Bit' Physics, time and space are both the stage and the place for the audience to watch from"

              Suppose space and time are not just the stage and place, but also the actors as well, contrary to what Gerard 't Hooft told you? That is exactly what I too suggest in my essay so leave this option open till you read my essay.

              A very nice essay to be well rated.

              Regards,

              Akinbo

                My pleasure Jonathan,

                As I said - thoroughly enjoyed it. Still working my way through the essays myself. Enjoyable, but hopefully there won't be many more new additions now or time won't permit.

                All the very best for the contest - well deserved position you are in!

                Antony

                Thank you very much Rodney,

                I like your comments greatly, and of course a tip of the hat to 'Old Will' is due, because indeed the universe is a stage - and we are the players. I was a bit worried, that I was pushing the edge with some comments, for an FQXi contest essay. I'm glad my choice of metaphor 'doth not forfend' but helps to lift readers like yourself into the heavens.

                All the Best,

                Jonathan

                You are gracious good Sir.

                Your kind remarks are appreciated, and I will try to get to reading your essay soon. As to existence/non-existence being a binary condition, it certainly appears so, but I will have to think further. I imagine that is something you bring up in your offering, so I will probably take up the question on your essay page, but it is something interesting to contemplate. As Tom Ray says in his essay; you never hear about beginning a quantum experiment with a dead cat, so I guess on some level we are biased because we live in a universe where existence is possible - and it's hard to imagine that non-existence could be as real.

                All the Best,

                Jonathan