an article by Anthony Reading (Tampa, USA) published in Information Volume 3 Issue 4 (2012)
Abstract
While some information is clearly meaningful and some clearly is not, no one has been able to identify exactly what the difference is.
The major obstacle has been the way information and meaning are conceptualised: the one in the physical realm of tangible, objective entities and the other in the mental world of intangible, subjective ones.
This paper introduces an approach that incorporates both of them within a unified framework by defining them in terms of what they do, rather than what they are. Meaningful information is thus conceptualised here as patterns of matter and energy that have a tangible effect on the entities that detect them, either by changing their function, structure or behaviour, while patterns of matter and energy that have no such effects are considered meaningless.
The way that meaningful information can act as a causal agent in bio-behavioural systems enables us to move beyond dualistic concepts of ourselves as comprised of a material body that obeys the laws of physics and a non-material essence that is too elusive to study [1].
Full text (PDF 9pp)
Showing posts with label emergence. Show all posts
Showing posts with label emergence. Show all posts
Monday, 5 November 2012
Monday, 12 March 2012
If Physics Is an Information Science, What Is an Observer?
an article by Chris Fields published in Information Volume 3 (Pages 92-123)
Abstract
Interpretations of quantum theory have traditionally assumed a “Galilean” observer, a bare “point of view” implemented physically by a quantum system.
This paper investigates the consequences of replacing such an informationally-impoverished observer with an observer that satisfies the requirements of classical automata theory, i.e., an observer that encodes sufficient prior information to identify the system being observed and recognise its acceptable states.
It shows that with reasonable assumptions about the physical dynamics of information channels, the observations recorded by such an observer will display the typical characteristics predicted by quantum theory, without requiring any specific assumptions about the observer's physical implementation.
Full text (PDF 32pp)
Abstract
Interpretations of quantum theory have traditionally assumed a “Galilean” observer, a bare “point of view” implemented physically by a quantum system.
This paper investigates the consequences of replacing such an informationally-impoverished observer with an observer that satisfies the requirements of classical automata theory, i.e., an observer that encodes sufficient prior information to identify the system being observed and recognise its acceptable states.
It shows that with reasonable assumptions about the physical dynamics of information channels, the observations recorded by such an observer will display the typical characteristics predicted by quantum theory, without requiring any specific assumptions about the observer's physical implementation.
Full text (PDF 32pp)
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