I wanted to discuss what it means if information ‘exists’, by that I don’t mean; ‘is information physically real’, but simply asking if it exists and that doesn’t have to mean physically. We know for certain that Information exists to us [at least in this subjective experience], and that information in our minds does take effect in the physical world ~ hence you are reading this [in ‘our’ shared subjective experience].
The logical reduction into classes we use for science and phenomenology in general, are useless at the more fundamental quantum level of existence. Here id like to focus on a more direct route & one we don’t know yet, so I’ll present the argument in two metaphoric ‘layers’; you have the quantum soup which is non-distinct and fluid beyond physical fluidity like water or fire. Then you have a ‘layer’ information and some of that information does interact with the physical in the brain and via sound, expression etcetera.
Thing is, there is no third layer, which assumedly would be required if some manner of ‘relay’ between the two layers were required. Or is there?
If there is no medium, then surely we must say that the entire quantum soup layer, interacts with the entire informational level!
How did this question formulate itself in you? I’m not trying to throw a counter question at you, just trying to get you to point out the mental layer or area where questions are born.
If the ‘layers’ are universal there can be no beginning nor ending point or edge. How i see that in my minds eye, is an ebb and flow of linguistic and optical [even if ‘transparent’ conceptual objects] informations. These i feel occur as ‘involved’ i.e. There is a mix between physical and informational objects at the macroscopic end of things, and i think thought occurs when observation, information and form communicate and otherwise interact.
The only difference between us and a non thinking entity, is that we are a mass of observations/informations/form calibrated in an instrument which focuses the mass of observations singularly.
More direct answer would be that i am that which watches and calibrates questions arising in the mind. The brain responds with more questions and answers to my query, and in that flow lies causality and my conscious changing of that. However, if something external observes that occurring, you would only see the questions arising [electrical signals] and not be able to read what the instrument is subjectively perceiving and changing.
We know what electrical signals are, and we know what info in our minds in our experience is, and we equally know at least that those two things are reals and one is not the other i.e. Electrical signals and chemicals are not information as we know it in the minds eye. When we include all reals equally, there is little to understand, the thing we are is doing what we perceive it to be doing & that is a real as much as what we do not perceive.
The consciousness watches ideas go by in it’s perception, and organises them into what it thinks is most important or most desirable. There is a listening and communicating thing going on here; namely that the two layers which/may universally interact at base level, are interacting, and our thoughts are that occurring.
Consider the universe to have a refresh rate like that on you pc’s monitor; the screen is on then is off, it redraws [using information] the image and then the image is on again. It does this at a fast enough rate such that in modern pc’s you cant see it occurring. At this level the universe is a like mass of quantum coins and it has to decide where there will be ‘heads’ or ‘tails’ particles, and that is the ‘soup’. …so the whole universe is being redrawn using information.
‘information’ at this level pertains to all the decisions being made across the universe ~ what sides of the coin each particle/potential is. it is probably [definitely] a different layer of information to the information know to physics e.g. Light, colour and sound wave information. But the layers of information are communicating, because one is reliant upon the other - to decide upon the fate of the coins.
Then there is information as we perceive it in our minds, which is a further tier of info and also is reliant upon the previous tier of info, and is in communication with it. The brains layer of second tier info ~ electrical signals, communicates with the third layer, info as the mind sees it.
I prefer to leave the notion open, because we don’t know what information is. I hope the above description clarifies why its so difficult to define.
