|
Understanding through Discussion |
|
|
Register | Sign In |
|
QuickSearch
| Thread ▼ Details |
|
|
| Author | Topic: Evolving New Information | |||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LucyTheApe Inactive Member |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LucyTheApe Inactive Member |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LucyTheApe Inactive Member |
Percy writes: By the way, all compilers that I'm aware of generate output files in units of bytes (more commonly, units of 4 bytes, often called words),.. Your right Percy, 8 doesn't divide 852, it must have been bytes. I've just recompiled the code and got 267 bytes (2136 bits); then 430 bytes (3440 bits) and then 467 bytes (3736 bits) so a difference of 296 bits, this might differ from previous sizes because I might have written the code differently and/or have an updated compiler.
Percy writes: Whatever that amount is, I hope we both agree that all valid methods of measuring its information content must yield the same value. Yes and it's a simply a matter of counting the bits when we are talking of the information in a computer program.
Percy writes: When a carpenter measures a board he expects its length to measure the same whether he uses a ruler, a yard stick, a tape measure, or the rule on his T-Square. And analogously, when we calculate the information content of something, we expect that the value calculated will not vary, no matter what method we use, as long as it's a valid method. This is where we are getting stuck Percy; our definition of information. The length of a bit of timber is not information unless an intelligence decides to make is so. Its length is just a fact (Newtonian and Euclidean). There is no information in the timber unless the carpenter decides to code it in his memory or write it on a bit of paper. The length of the bit of timber is data.
Percy writes: You acknowledge that different compilers will yield different measures of the amount of information in your program, and therefore compilers by their inherent character cannot be valid measures of information content because they provide a variety of different values for the exact same program. Yes, different communication systems use different languages. Now you are confusing information with semantics or meaning.
LTA writes: The amount of information in the dna and mdna, I suspect, is related to the number of base pairs.
Taq writes: That causes serious problems then. According to this measure a random, non-functional 2,000 base pair stretch of DNA carries more information than a functional gene with 1,000 base pairs. If you were talking about a sequential system then you may have a point. But the cell isn't a sequential system. For example code can be read in reverse, it can overlap and the cell is performing many tasks in parallel.
Taq writes: The hypothesis is that if a lineage of lobed finned fish evolved into amphibians that there had to exist species that had a combination of lobed finned fish features and amphibian features. So the hypothesis should also explain the bizarre appearance of this egg-laying, venomous, duck-billed, beaver-tailed, otter-footed cute little mammal;  Taq writes: Another example of a hypothesis that passed the test. Test with the bar set really low.
Iblis writes: False. Eggs don't "try to produce" anything, they try to become what their nucleus tells them to become. Let's just wait and see what your sick voodoo scientists working in secret in their basement come up with, shall we. I'm not saying that I know that the cell is in control, it just seems the most logical explanation to me.
Iblis writes: We will very soon be sticking nucleus from our cheek cells into cow eggs and growing medicine to help us outlive you. Might seem strange to you, but I'm looking forward to my last hour on earth.
Percy writes: File size is also not a measure of information content. For example, you could save the first paragraph of this message in a file and see that the file size is 218 bytes including the newline character. But you could then run the file through gzip and find that it is now only 177 bytes in length. Gzip relies upon redundancy to compress files. So how much information is in the file? Is it 218 bytes or 177 bytes? Only one answer can be correct, right? And is it again possible neither answer is right? You bet! Gzip is a lossless compression tool, just another communication system taking bits in, using different symbols for different sequences of bits, passing it to the decoder which reconstructs the original message, just like the different compilers. The amount of information is dependant on the type of system (coder, language, decoder) used. There no doubt exist natural laws, but once this fine reason of ours was corrupted, it corrupted everything. blz paskal
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LucyTheApe Inactive Member |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
LucyTheApe Inactive Member |
|
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
|
|
Do Nothing Button
Copyright 2001-2023 by EvC Forum, All Rights Reserved
™ Version 4.2
Innovative software from Qwixotic © 2024
