On 11/15/2024 4:01 PM, John Clark wrote:
On Fri, Nov 15, 2024 at 6:30 PM Bruce Kellett <[email protected]>
wrote:
*>> Me: I would say that the best definition of "physical"
that I know of is that something is physical if and only if it
is capable, at least in theory, of encoding information.*
/> Sounds a bit tautological to me: Something is "physical" if it
is capable of encoding information physically./
*NO! I define "physical" as anything that is capable of encoding
information _PERIOD_. And if it can't encode information then it's not
physical. *
/> It does not follow that information is physical./
*It does if you use my definition of the word "physical", and I can't
think of a better one.Can you?
*
You can kick it, and it kicks back.
*
*
/> There is probably an infinite amount of information around that
is not encoded, physically or in any other way: the number of ants
in my backyard; the number of bees in that swarm; the average BMI
of my friends;/
*Ants, bees and the number of fat molecules that your friend's have
are all physical objects that can encode information, and they can be
counted. *
The number of ants could be code for my social security number or code
for JKC's weight or code for Bruces latitude. My point is that anything
could be code for something else; but it isn't unless there is a
code/decode defined. Which is why the information cannot be said to be
physical because any given information can be coded physicially in
infinitely many ways, just as any territory can be mapped in infinitely
many ways. So the same physical object(s) can be code for infinitely
many messages corresponding to different code/decode schemes.
Brent
*However you can't count the number of angels dancing on the head of a
pin because angels are not physical and thus they cannot encode
information. You could of course count the number of angels that you
are imagining about, but only if you use your brain, and that also is
a physical object. *
*John K Clark See what's on my new list at Extropolis
<https://groups.google.com/g/extropolis>*
e4a
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