On Fri, Feb 28, 2014 at 10:51:00AM -0500, [email protected] wrote: > > Ok, Thanks. We're back to the Observer again, where all things are decided at > the quantum. From here on the questions tumble forth as a cascade, on whether > the Observer is conscious, who is the Observer, what is the Observer? >
Interesting questions, to be sure, but all quite irrelevant to information theory. All an observer needs to do for information theory is detect a difference (that makes a difference). Cheers > > -----Original Message----- > From: Russell Standish <[email protected]> > To: everything-list <[email protected]> > Sent: Thu, Feb 27, 2014 5:15 pm > Subject: Re: Is information physical? > > > On Thu, Feb 27, 2014 at 05:01:51PM -0500, [email protected] wrote: > > Not to be a dick, but is not "information" or "data" perforations, and > > pulses, > in mater and energy? This is how we recognize information from background > noise, > correct? Is there a third state of reality that is not matter or energy? > > > > Only when interpreted by an observer. An electrical circuit has only > voltages and currents, not bits. To an observer, a voltage on a data > line might be interpreted as 1 if it is greater than 3V, and zero if > it is less than 1V. In between those two thresholds, the voltage might > be determinate, but the information is not. > > The "third state", as you call it, is a semantically different picture > where things are described in terms of whether some physical state is > the same as, or different from, some other physical state, according to > the interpretation of an observer. From that, comes bits, and all the > other information-based quantities. > > -- > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) > Principal, High Performance Coders > Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected] > University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email > to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. > > > > -- > You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups > "Everything List" group. > To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an > email to [email protected]. > To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. > Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. > For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out. -- ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) Principal, High Performance Coders Visiting Professor of Mathematics [email protected] University of New South Wales http://www.hpcoders.com.au ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "Everything List" group. To unsubscribe from this group and stop receiving emails from it, send an email to [email protected]. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. Visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/everything-list. For more options, visit https://groups.google.com/groups/opt_out.
