Evolution: as immaterial information (Introduction)

by David Turell , Thursday, June 02, 2022, 18:41 (903 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: I know the authors are simply trying to convey the concept that DNA is a code that delivers information which using biochemistry creates life, as I noted above. Information theory studies the complexity of information. Bolded above is your comment which means you do not understand the point of information theory. Most physical forms contain oodles of repetitive info, not much meaning as in DNA. Google Shannon information theory to get a sense of how information is viewed today and can be applied to genome studies in creating life through biochemistry which follows instructions.
Of course, ID touts this approach, because only a mind can create meaningful information as instructions to be followed. You have struggled with info every time I bring it in. Shannon developed his math approach to guide computerization of telephone transmission and it was then carried over into understanding DNA code as carrying info in life. I appreciate your digging into this article. It means you are trying to recognize why you resist accepting this subject's importance to current theories about life. You have resisted every time over the years. Dip a while foot, not just a toe.

dhw: There is no point in my repeating the detailed problems I raised yesterday, since you have ignored them all with this collection of generalizations. The only direct reference you have made to my response is:
dhw: Besides, there are plenty of physical forms that are full of “information” and are not alive,so the authors might just as well define life as the product of “information” that makes materials live. Not exactly edifying.

You say I don’t understand the point, because “most physical forms contain oodles of repetitive info, not much meaning as in DNA”. How does this contradict my own comment? If you really want to help me, then please answer the question that preceded it: how does immaterial information create (let alone diversify) life by “propagating”, if it doesn’t exist until the material form already exists?

You have described the problem if evolution is viewed as a natural event. Which came first chicken or egg??? The answer is both must arrive together!!! The 'RNA first' theory makes the absurd approach that RNA is made naturally and suddenly the code has meaning!! That is why I follow the ID theorists. You are floundering because that means a mental agent did the creating. For me, all the deductive reasoning I use goes back to Sherlock, so if all else is impossible, the imporbable must exist. Like it or not, life runs on the information in the DNA of the genome and its other layers. The code contains the needed information which only living organisms can interpret.