Information

What is Information? (1) Reality as Information - Is there Intrinsic Meaning? Sentient Life & Bits

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• published: 17 May 2013
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Is reality indistinguishable from information? Is consciousness a self-aware, self-modifying information field? Does information have intrinsic meaning? How does meaningfulness arise? How do sentient and non-sentient entities differ in the way they perceive and process information?... Optimized for 640 x 360 (16:9 SD). Full script here: http://crackingthenutshell.com/what-i... Introduction: - Common association of information with communication and technology - Could information be something more subtle and fundamental? - Can we define time, space, consciousness, matter, energy... in terms of information? - Science using informational approach: quantum physics, biology, neuroscience... - Digital physics and philosophy. Information as as tool to explain reality. Metaphysics / Philosophy - Summary of what will be discussed in Part 1 (this video) and rest of the video series - Covering all topics, from mainstream science to fringe science - Other recommended channels (Minute Physics, Veritasium & Imagining the 10th Dimension) Finding a Good Definition of Information: - Facts, message, communication & reception of data - Etymology: to give form to the mind. Giving form and meaning as related to an agent. Interpretation of information - Difference between code symbols and information - Gregory Bateson's definition: information is a difference which makes a difference - Modification of Bateson's definition to: information is a perceived difference which can make a difference - At the most basic level, information is the perceived difference between two distinct states plus the potential meaning assigned to this perceived difference - Information is not a thing, a property or state "out there" - Information is a process, a connection, a relationship; a potential for knowledge acquisition - Information as related to perception, experience, qualia... - Information as a relational concept - Is information made of matter or energy? Norbert Wiener - Example 1: cell perceiving the distinction between two states (acidity & non-acidity) - Example 2: perception of black dots against a white background - Example 3: information contained in the word "Love" - Is information subjective? Potential meaningfulness. Interpretation of data - Reasons for changes in definition: rejection of objective realism (Anton Zeilinger, Leggett-Garg & Bell inequalities), observer-observed dependency, subjectivity in interpretation and difference between information and matter / energy - Is information physical or non-physical? Rolf Landauer's statement (lengthy discussion in future video) Associating the Bit with Bateson's definition: - How is information quantified? - Definition of the binary digit or bit - Association of the bit with Gregory Bateson's definition On the use of the word "Perception", Sentient Life, Meaning & Acquisition of Knowledge: - Perceive = detect (non sentient entities) - Conscious perception (sentient entities) - Example of a golf ball in a gravitational field - Non-sentient entities can perceive a difference but can't assign meaning - Important fact about information: sentient entities maximise its potential - The ability to store, retrieve, process information and assign meaning as key to evolution of life (self-modification, provision of feedback, memory, growth, learning...) - Life: potential acquisition of knowledge and learning can be maximised - How do complexity and meaningfulness arise? - Key ingredients: consciousness and free will - Are consciousness and free will emergent or fundamental? - Steven Kaufman; Unified Reality Theory. Defining reality from an idealistic point of view. - Reality as the experience of binary states in relation to each other. Reality forming relationships with itself - "Whatever we experience something to be, it can be that only in relation to and in dependence on some other aspect of existence which is not that." - Summing up Part 1