quote:
The existence of information
What I want to stress is that there is structure and self-organizing even without human observers. I regard self-organizing as a kind of probing, a primitive kind of observing. To assign the term information to that particular data set is a small step by then.
Self-organization -> probing -> observing -> interpreting -> information
I agree that there is organization and structure independent of human observation. However, this organization and structure occurs independent of the presence of an intelligence. It is a consequence of physics and chemistry, not foresight. The organization that humans create is non-reproductive, such as watches or automobiles. Their constructions relies solely upon our action. For organisms, they already contain the necessary mechanisms for replication without outside help, other than chemicals they need for replication. Also, the "information" that they need for doing this is also chemical in nature. This type of information is different than information created by intelligence. For example, it is not the composition of the ink (chemical) that matters, but rather the abstract forms of the ink stain. In cells, the "chemical makeup of the ink" does matter, with DNA being the ink.
A cell can only probe, observe, and interpret within the guidelines set out within it's DNA. If A happens, B HAS to happen. There is no decision making process. The real information within DNA is which mutations are selected for by the environment, or rather the shaping of the DNA sequence by evolutionary mechanisms.
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