On Sun, Sep 24, 2006 at 12:11:54PM -0400, [EMAIL PROTECTED] wrote: > In my narrative for a substitute Big Bang I called the originating > zero-info-'object' Plenitude, as I realize from your words (thank you) it is > close to the Old Greek Chaos. In that narrative Universes occur by > 'differentiating - selecting something from that "nothing" > (RSt). Information, observables. I had to give in to critics about the 'zero > information' because it was said that "having no information emanating from > it" IS information. Also my claims on infinite symmetry - dynamic invariance > and what you say 'the set of all strings' (I called it an unlimited content > of everything) was deemed 'information'. I defended my position by saying > that I want to state as little about this unattainable 'object' as possible, > it is only a starting point with more common sense relevance than the > quantum science related expressionS applied in the narratives of the > physical cosmology.
Then I would say those critics do not understand information theory. Actually, it is possible, of course, that it is I who misunderstand information theory, but at the risk of seeming arrogant "know it all", I would bet on it being the critics, as I've seen a huge amount of confusion on this subject in the literature. > > A silly question: > you wrote: >Any person's experience is > >obtained by differentiating - selecting > >something from that "nothing". > What makes 'that nothing' available to "persons"? is it not also available > to a computer? in which case computers may have unlimited consciousness > (whatever we call under that name). > > > John M > Just because computers, or thermometers, or any measure device really can differentiate between outcomes does not make them conscious. The argument flows the other way - being conscious necessarily means one can differentiate outcomes, whatever else consciousness may be about. -- *PS: A number of people ask me about the attachment to my email, which is of type "application/pgp-signature". Don't worry, it is not a virus. It is an electronic signature, that may be used to verify this email came from me if you have PGP or GPG installed. Otherwise, you may safely ignore this attachment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Mathematics UNSW SYDNEY 2052 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Australia http://parallel.hpc.unsw.edu.au/rks International prefix +612, Interstate prefix 02 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- --~--~---------~--~----~------------~-------~--~----~ You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To post to this group, send email to everything-list@googlegroups.com To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [EMAIL PROTECTED] For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list -~----------~----~----~----~------~----~------~--~---
