Information and free will (Introduction)

by dhw, Tuesday, September 27, 2011, 14:27 (4785 days ago) @ David Turell

DAVID: David Deutsch of Oxford (Physicist) on information has a life of its own and free will certainly exists:-http://bloggingheads.tv/diavlogs/38888?in=36:40&out=46:45-Anyone want to argue with his concepts?-Amid all the ers and ums, waffle and scientific jargon there emerges the message that nobody understands the nature of consciousness, creativity, free will etc., but both speakers believe in the latter. David Deutsch points out that we are not yet able to make artificial models with all these attributes, which ties in with Matt's pursuit of AI as a possible route to our understanding. It would be interesting, though, to know whether Matt agrees that information can "preserve itself". The procedures that Deutsch describes depend on human interpretation and human methods of preservation. If all humans and their artefacts disappeared, would the information really have a life of its own? Or does he mean that the laws of Nature would still continue to operate (which seems hardly worth saying)? Both speakers have such a boring delivery, however, that maybe I dozed off at a vital moment!