Information as the source of life's creativity (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, December 06, 2020, 00:30 (1448 days ago) @ David Turell

Another essay on the subject:

https://mindmatters.ai/2020/12/information-is-the-currency-of-life-but-what-is-it/

"Egnor: What about information as meaning?

Robert J. Marks: The three models of information that I have just shared with you don’t really measure meaning. The fourth model is specified complexity. The purpose of specified complexity, and specifically the mathematics of algorithmic specified complexity, is to measure the meaning in the bits of an object…

"Note: Specified complexity: “A long sequence of random letters is complex without being specified [it is hard to duplicate but it also doesn’t mean anything]. A short sequence of letters like “the,” “so,” or “a” is specified without being complex. [It means something but what it means is not very significant by itself]. A Shakespearean sonnet is both complex and specified.” [It is both complex and hard to duplicate and it means a lot in a few words]

"Egnor: How does biological information differ from information in non-living things?

"Robert J. Marks: We can talk about creativity. Creativity is the creation of information. And that is outside of naturalistic or information processes.

"Egnor: Thomas Aquinas, following Aristotle, defined living things as things that strive for their own perfection. That was what distinguished living things from non-living things. A rock doesn’t wake up in the morning and try to be a better rock. Whereas living things, to greater or lesser degrees of success, try to make themselves better at what they do. They eat, they rest, they interact with nature. They do things to make themselves even better examples of what they are. And it would seem, to me, that that might relate to the difference between information in non-living and in living things. The information in living things is directed to ends; it’s directed to purposes that you don’t see in non-living things in the same way.

"Robert J. Marks: In other words, the entity has to have creativity.

Comment: taken from a podcast. Specified complexity is how ID folks identify design.