Information
So it seems that the physical world can be summed up as a combination of mass, energy, and information. But, actually mass and energy are really the same thing as well (see Einstien), so the physical world really comprises of energy and information. The information determines how that energy interacts and is structured. This is the fundamental idea behind entropy, etc. Actually, it is the fundamental idea behind a lot of things... This seems to be why the laws of nature work. Energy is structured in particular information rich ways. Laws are really a strict way of transfering information. I guess I had never thought of information theory as being so fundamental before. This is one reason why computers are so good at representing reality and why they have been so useful so quickly. The universe is structured to help make computers work. It seems that the study of information, including such ideas as Dembski's arguments for intelligence, are extremely useful for science in general, and theoretical physics in particular. We just take such ideas for granted so often... We were modeling the entire hydrogen atom in an equation in class! That just seems unfathomable... And nature is so much better at storing, computing, and utilizing information than anything man has created, it is amazing. So a couple questions come to mind to ponder...
What is the relationships between energy and information really? How tightly are they bound? How do they relate to each other? Are they both fundamentally the same thing too, somehow? Is energy like Plato's plastic or space from Timaeus, with information forming and molding it? Are there laws for the conservation of information? How does information lead to more complex information? (In an open system it seems to be from more energy...how about a closed system?) What really Is the law of entropy? Is there a maximum limit to the amount, or ability of information? And most interestingly of all, what does this type of structure of the universe suggest about God?
It is certainly an amazing world...
posted by Secretwallaby @ 11:11 PM
7 comments
7 Comments:
How is information part of the physical world? It seems non-physical to me.
Well, there can't be a strict dichotomy between the information and the physical world, since they interact. There must be some kind of substratum that they interact on. It could be that in the same way that matter is "complex" energy, energy is "complex" information, and information is "complex" God...
However, where is the human free will in all of this? How does it interact with stuff, given the 'substratum' argument?
That would make another distinction in Dustin's conception of the world. You'd have information, energy and substratum.
I'm not sure you need a substratum. Why a medium? You are of course hitting on the problem of substance dualism.
Anyhow, it's still intuitive to me there's a distinction in substance. I think energy/matter is substantially different than "information." I'd be inclined to call information "idea," anyhow.
Yeah, I was imprecise in my language. By substratum, I did not mean to imply a seperate substance from matter and information, as I tried to demonstrate by my analogies. Basically everything is complex God, and God is fundamentally Will, so Nietszche was kinda right.
To elaborate, by complex I mean just that. Basically, I'm saying that it is our mind that creates the distinction between information, matter, and energy. It tends to be the case that in a complex system certain regularities appear. So, insofar as information is complex, certain regularities appear and we call these regularities energy, etc.
And yeah, I think information would also be called 'idea'. In fact, according to our A.E. Taylor commentary on Timaeus, that is what Timaeus says, that matter is basically ideas.
Well, I never claimed that they were similar. It seems that they would need to be substantially different in order for me to make this level of distinction. Both parts are needed for physical reality, and they seem to be all that is needed for physical reality, perhaps...However, we also thought that energy and matter were fundementally different too until Einstien. And there is a direct connection between information and energy. By expending more energy, a thing can contain more information, etc.
Perhaps we could call it idea if you want, I'm not positive I like all of the baggage that come with that though. Information does seem to be the connection between non-physical things and physical things. What I am currently encompassing in the definition is the ordered-ness of energy, and the laws that govern the relationships between energy. Information can be gained and lossed without the need for an individual's idea though... It does seem to require intelligence to understand information, which is interesting...
Couple other curious things... With Quantum mechanics, there is an element of true randomness, not connected to this general information, persay... So, there is a type of random number generator at the core of the universe... Also, where does the will fit into all of this? The universe uses law to do things with information, but people use the will, right? So, what is the real difference between physical laws and our will? ;-)
I'm uncomfortable with making the universe's basic level of existence God, because it seems to border on making God a formal or material cause, which eliminates a holy divide between God and His creation.
Yeah, if the view of reality I stated is correct, then the only distinction between God and His creation is the mental kind I stated earlier, which may lead to pantheism and the nullifying of God's freedom.
However, my main point was to posit a way that matter could be energy.
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