THE NATURE OF INFORMATION

The Nature of Information - Selections

A human being is part of a whole, called by us the "Universe," a part limited in

time

and

space. He experiences himself,

his thoughts and feelings, as something

separated

from the rest - a kind of optical delusion of his consciousness. This

delusion is a kind

of prison for us, restricting us to our personal desires and to

affection for a few

persons nearest us. Our

task must be to free ourselves from

this

prison by widening

our circles of compassion to embrace all living creatures

and

the

whole of nature in its

beauty

Albert Einstein

*******

According to modern science, the universe is an entirely mass-energy system. Its

origins, future and many of its laws and

principles remain unknown, but the mass-

energy nature of all objects and events is established overwhelmingly. We live in

material

world

rime among the failures of science

, however,

has been

its

inability to

define in mass-energy

terms mind, consciousness,

consciousness of

self, cognition,

intentionality

or volition

and

mental

phenomena in general. The

most it has been able

to achieve is to

restate

the

age-old

mind-body problem as

the brain-mind problem,

and identify mind as a

mass-

energy

system that

manipulates or processes something

we call information.

But contrary to general opinion, both within and outside science, the word

information

has no definition that establishes

its identity as a physical

phenomenon

valid

for

all its

uses. Therefore, identifying ourselves as information

processors, and

mental

events

as information processes, lacks real meaning in

the

absence of an

understanding of

the

true

nature of information. This paper

provides

one. It defines

information in wholly

mass-energy terms in every sense

in which

it is

or could be

used,

not only making

possible a true unification of

matter and mind, but

revealing, in

the

process, the

fundamental mechanism

inherent in the mass-energy

universe by

which

physical

systems are created and

able to

organize and control

their own

behavior,

enabling us

to understand the

universe, including mind and all

mental

phenomena, as

an entirely

mass-energy,

material or physical system.

The pathway is as follows:

1. Information, in every sense in which it is or could be used, both within and

outside

science, will be seen to be the exact

equivalent of what generally is

known as form.

2. Form will be redefined as a mass-energy or physical, rather than an abstract

phenomenon.

3. The fundamental creative and control mechanisms of the universe will be seen

be embodied in the use of forms as

information, that all information is the

processing

of mass-energy forms.

4. All mental events, including

cognition

feelings

, volition and all forms of

consciousness, including consciousness

of self, will be able to be defined as

flows of

mass-energy forms, and whatever it is we call mind will be seen as a

wholly

mass-

energy, form-manipulating process.

5. This will enable us to understand and define the universe as a mass-energy

system

that exercises its creative, control

and communication functions by

manipulating forms

of itself – i.e., structures, patterns, shapes and arrangements

organizations of

matter, many of which remain constant through inw

outward

flows of mass-

energy, allowing us to

see ourselves as forms of a self-

organizing, self-

controlled,

mass-energy universe. As physicist, Victor Weisskopf

wrote,

“Nature, in

the form of

man, begins to recognize itself

”

(p. 2)

*******

As a result of the fact that information seems always and everywhere to be the

equivalent of form, we need to understand

the precise relationship between

information and form in order to get at the true identity of both. For instance,

while

all

information processes are form processes, the reverse is not true.

Patterns of

radiation above a certain frequency destroy

living tissue, and so are

not

informational

to the receive

Most chemical molecules in the body – e.g.,

carbohydrates,

hemoglobin,

phospholipids,

etc.

are

used for structure or energy

production, and so

their form is

not

primarily

information related

, even though

information flow is a

necessary element of

their activity.

So, if all information is

form, but

not the exact

equivalent of

form,

we need

to know

what type of form it

what its unique geometric

characteristics are,

how

information

can be defined

mass-energy terms, and the

identity of what we call

knowledge,

consciousness

and

mind that would result from

such a definition. The

pathway to this

can come

from understanding the most

fundamental nature of

what we call form,

and being

able to define it in entirely mass-

energy terms

(p.

)

*******

At the deepest level of our understanding of the mass-energy universe, then, we

can

see that there is a third fundamental

ingredient in addition to matter and

energy

that

essential to the identity of every mass-energy event, process and

system

– its

form. At

the most basic level, the universe can be understood most

generally and

economically

as a mass-energy-

form-manipulating system

(p. 9)

It is clear that, at every level of the known universe as characterized by modern

science, form plays a critical role in all

events, objects and processes – in the

large-

scale geometrical/field identity of the space-time continuum, the strings of

string

theories, the particle/wave systems of quantum theory, atomic electron

patterning,

the

structure of chemical

molecules, and the form-driven

communication and control

functions of cells, organisms, nervous systems,

brains and

minds. In order for us to

understand the universe as a total mass-

energy system, we must accept the fact

that,

in addition to

mass and energy, it

contains a third fundamental ingredient – an

intrinsic

lement

inherent all mass-

energy events – the

primary organizing principle of

the

universe – form - that

there is a morphological or geometrical component to the

universe that

generates all its creative, communication and control processes, and

plays an

essential role in the identity

and behavior of all physical events and

systems.

(pp.

0-11

)

*******

We have seen that information is, in all cases, a form phenomenon, but need to

understand its meaning, value or

significance to mass-energy systems in order to

understand how it can come to be understood in entirely mass-energy

terms as

what

we call meaningful knowledge. An example of information processing that

can

provide

a pathway to this

goal is contained in a description of information

flow by W.

Ross

Ashby:

“To get a picture of the amount of coding that goes on during the ordinary

interaction

between organism and

environment, let us consider, in some detail,

the

comparatively

simple sequence of events that occurs when a gale

warning is

broadcast. It starts as

some patterned process in the nerve cells of the

meteorologist,

and then becomes a

pattern of muscle movements as he writes or

types it, thereby

making a pattern of in

marks on paper. From here it becomes

pattern of light and

dark on the announcer’s

retina, then a pattern of retinal

excitation, then a pattern of

nerve impulses

in the optic

nerve, and so on through

his

nervous system. It emerges

as a pattern of lip and

tongue movements, and

then

travels as a pattern of waves in

the air. Reaching the

microphone it

becomes a

pattern of variations of electrical

potential,

and then goes

through

further changes

it is amplified, modulated and

broadcast. Now it is a

pattern of

waves in the

ether,

and next a pattern in the

receiving set. Back again to the

pattern of waves in the air,

it then becomes a pattern

vibrations traversing the

listener’s eardrums, ossicles,

cochlea, and then becomes

a pattern of nerve

impulses

moving up

the auditory

nerve. Here we can leave it

noticing that this

very brief account

mentions no less

than sixteen major

transformations through

all of which something

has been

preserved, although the

superficial appearances

have change

almost out

recognition

”

(p. 1

)

*******

The interpretation of mind discussed above allows us to understand mind-body

duality

as an arbitrary

compartmentalization in the characterization of what is

actually

unitary system. The ability of drugs and other chemical

substances to

alter mental

processes - consciousness,

feelings,

memory and cognitive

capacity, the power of the

mind to stimulate bodily changes, such as

lowering

heart and respiration rate,

raising

or lowering skin temperature, the

capability

a sheer act of will to force the body to

respond to danger or other

stimulus

mental disciplines

that produce

enhanced

performance,

illness destroying

personality and character

all

are evidence

of the

intimate interaction between

mind and body that can

accounted for

seamlessly by

understanding them as

mass-energy form-manipulating

processes

)

*******

Whatever insights we gain, or advances in our thinking we make, it seems

unarguable

that, if mind can arise in any mass-

energy system capable of

processing

mass-energy

and form at sufficiently complex levels, we no longer

reasonably can

interpret it as

some transcendent or metaphysical entity that

enters and leaves

physical systems –

primarily human beings;

we must accept it

as a complex class of

mass-energy, form-

driven control mechanisms, and,

critically, as evidence of our

interconnectedness to

all living organisms. Minds,

wherever they exist, must be seen

as legitimate forms of

the universe,

entitled to

survive and potentiate their existence.

This understanding will

allow us to move

toward the day when predation

on other

sentient forms (other minds)

eliminated from our ethos and actions as

unacceptable, and we have learned to

live

in peace and harmony with all other

forms.

Only then will we have reached

our

extraordinary potential as forms of

nature

recognizing itself, “widened our

circles of

compassion to embrace all living creatures

and the whole of nature in

its

beauty,” and

taken on the moral responsibility that

accompanies our

knowledge – to be the

champions of the inalienable

validity of all

forms of the

universe, the only home any of

us will ever know

(p. 2

)