Evolution: as immaterial information (Introduction)

by David Turell , Sunday, June 12, 2022, 16:34 (683 days ago) @ dhw

DAVID: All of the processes in living cells we can see make life appear in cellular material. It is emergent. As you know I believe God started life.

dhw:The processes can’t even begin until the cells are alive! All parts of the cell are still present in a dead person. “God started life” is no more enlightening than “chance started life”, but at least in both cases we have now rid ourselves of “information” as the source of life.

Information in cells can't be used by deadc cells, so chichen and egg problem. Information must be present for life to exist and run its information-dependent processes. The source of
life is either God or chance. The first appearance of life is withits informaton present.

DAVID: Life runs by translating informational instructions it contains.

dhw: So “information that propagates” runs by translating information that it contains. (Nothing to do with how life started, but we should abandon that question.) So into what does the information that propagates translate the information it contains? What sort of information is “propagating” information anyway? Once upon a time, I thought information was purely passive, and needed a mind to interpret and use it. But not now apparently: it can translate and reproduce itself and spread itself around.

Life started with information on board!! Information in and of itself is passive, obviusly. Life interpreting information propogates and informaton is carried along with it. A new species has new information, source must be chance or God

DAVID: The fact that life runs on immaterial information and operational information can only come from mental activity producing the informational concepts, a designer exists.

dhw: Now we have propagating information, instructional information, operational information and informational concepts, and life runs on mental activity which proves that God exists. And all this is meant to “unscramble” my brain. I suggest the following: Life runs on mental activity perceiving, interpreting and using information. Life comes from life, and nobody knows how life and mental activity started.

Still a constant scramble as I analyze the bold. Life runs on the informaton it contains, which is obvious.