The Centrality of information (Introduction)

by dhw, Tuesday, June 24, 2014, 11:31 (3806 days ago) @ Balance_Maintained

DHW: (to David)You would only be able to answer my objections if you could find the logical thread that binds the sections together. You recommended the article, but I found the thinking disjointed. The author appears to be arguing that because information is immaterial, somehow that provides evidence that the source of consciousness is also immaterial, nature may be immaterial, Darwinian evolution is wrong, and the watchmaker is not blind. What you yourself have written makes perfect sense, and there are powerful arguments in support of your own views, but in my opinion this author, by taking the immateriality of information as her basis, has not provided any. Maybe other readers will be able to follow her logic better than I can.-TONY: I think the logic can be summed up quite neat by one simple fact:
We are able to distinguish the signal from the noise.-Signal within the noise implies purpose, the stronger the signal, the stronger the purpose. The signal, (read informational organization) within life and the universe, is immensely strong. So strong, in fact, that there are incontrovertible laws, rules, and organized structures. Strong, clear, immaterial patterns that can be easily distinguished from the noise. -I have no idea how you have managed to extrapolate this from the article, which tries to use the immateriality of information as evidence that consciousness has an immaterial source, that Darwinian evolution is wrong etc. (see above). -Your argument that the universe is purpose driven ... beautifully expressed, as usual ... sounds convincing to a layman. Unfortunately folk like Hawking, who also know a thing or two about physics, are equally eloquent and have come to the opposite conclusion. So who is the layman to believe? Let's face it, purpose/non-purpose has nothing to do with science and everything to do with faith.