Richard Brodie richard@brodietech.com http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/
Author, "Virus of the Mind: The New Science of the Meme"
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/votm.htm
Free newsletter! Visit Meme Central at
http://www.brodietech.com/rbrodie/meme.htm
-----Original Message-----
From: owner-virus@lucifer.com [mailto:owner-virus@lucifer.com]On Behalf
Of Robin Faichney
Sent: Sunday, March 14, 1999 1:46 PM
To: virus@lucifer.com
Subject: virus: matter, consciousness and information (was Will)
In message <000101be6c9f$356eb440$cb293fce@uymfdlvk>, Richard Brodie
<richard@brodietech.com> writes
>Brave Sir Robin wrote:
>
><<But why do you say "consciousness and matter are not"?
>Show me consciousness. Show me matter. In both cases,
>I guarantee, I'll show you information. (Much as I
>honestly admire your memetic wisdom, I think you have
>something to learn about metaphysics.)>>
>
>I see how a given piece of matter could be considered information, looking
>at its molecular construction and so on. I don't see how consciousness
could
>be considered information -- it is a process, like management or
government.
>While consciousness may be partly composed of information, that does not
>make the whole also information.
You're right, consciousness is not in itself information. What it is, is a notional information sink. Just as matter is a notional information source. My point is that both of these are entirely notional, based on the assumption that an information flow must have a local source and sink, failing to see its eternal (or at least Big Bang -> Heat Death) reality. Or, to put it another way, actual (as op. instrumental) belief in matter and/or consciousness is due to short-sightedness. (While use of the concepts without true belief is due to pragmatism.)
-- Robin