Information is a way of speaking about that which adds to knowledge and identifies cause.
Where I use the term "knowledge" in the general Liberal Physicalist sense to refer to that which determines subsequent action. Steven On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 10:28 AM, Edwina Taborsky <[email protected]> wrote: > Steven - are you saying that information 'is nothing'? > > Edwina > > ----- Original Message ----- > *From:* Steven Ericsson-Zenith <[email protected]> > *To:* Biosemiotics <[email protected]> > *Cc:* Peirce Discussion Forum ([email protected]) > <[email protected])> > *Sent:* Monday, March 30, 2015 1:22 PM > *Subject:* [PEIRCE-L] Re: [biosemiotics:8138] Article on origina of the > universe relevant to some recent discussions on these lists > > Stunningly comical. Energy from information ... an unplausible > mathematical description of something from nothing. It goes to show what > you get from an ungrounded purely mathematical education. > > Steven > > On Mon, Mar 30, 2015 at 9:47 AM, John Collier <[email protected]> wrote: > >> Dear lists, >> >> >> >> The following article is relevant to issues of “What came before the Big >> Bang?”, the evolution of laws in the universe and some others. It cites, >> among others, David Layzer and myself, and generally follows the approaches >> that we have argued for. It also brings together other related material >> from other sources related to symmetry breaking (information formation, >> and, if on a cosmic scale, law formation). In particular it invokes the “no >> boundary conditions” requirement for a satisfactory cosmological theory >> (favoured by Hawking, Smolin, Layzer and many other cosmologists). The >> authors give this condition as that the universe originated in a >> singularity that is not knowable, since it contains no information. >> Information, here, is of course the physicists’ notion of “it from bit”, >> used in cosmology, the study of black holes and in some branches of Quantum >> Theory (quantum computation and quantum field theory in particular), >> according to which energy and matter are incidental, and information >> (distinctness) is fundamental. >> >> >> >> The paper is Spontaneous Creation of the Universe Ex Nihilo >> >> Maya Lincoln >> >> Electronic Address: [email protected] >> >> Affiliation: University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel >> >> Avi Wasser >> >> Electronic Address: [email protected] >> >> Affiliation: University of Haifa, Haifa 31905, Israel >> >> >> >> It can be found online with a good search engine. >> >> >> >> The paper is a sketch of the theory rather than a theory (as they say “a >> first step”). I don’t think it differs all that much from David Layzer’s >> views, judging by my discussions with him about twenty years ago. But >> perhaps it is more boldly stated. I am not satisfied that it really >> resolves the issue of why there is something rather than nothing, but if it >> does, it makes the existence of the Universe necessary rather than >> contingent. >> >> >> >> Cheers, >> >> John >> >> >> >> John Collier, Philosophy, UKZN, Durban 4041 >> >> http://web.ncf.ca/collier >> >> >> > > ------------------------------ > > > ----------------------------- > PEIRCE-L subscribers: Click on "Reply List" or "Reply All" to REPLY ON > PEIRCE-L to this message. PEIRCE-L posts should go to > [email protected] . To UNSUBSCRIBE, send a message not to PEIRCE-L > but to [email protected] with the line "UNSubscribe PEIRCE-L" in the > BODY of the message. More at http://www.cspeirce.com/peirce-l/peirce-l.htm > . > > > > >
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