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    <p>Thanks Lou, you are surely right to point out the object-nature
      of concepts.<br>
    </p>
    <div class="">>There is no escape from sooner or later realizing
      that 2 exists only in the mind or in the Mind.<br>
      <br>
      Indeed. Our minds are full of such concepts. It seems that one of
      the important activities of the mind is to generate 'things' from
      the processes that impinge upon us. This makes living our lives
      much simpler (we don't need to set about curating the collection
      of all couples).<br>
      <br>
    </div>
    <div class="">>Mind as eigenform never happens except at the
      limit where self-reference occurs.<br>
      <br>
      I found it useful to read your paper on that is to be found at
      eigenforms <a class="moz-txt-link-freetext" href="http://homepages.math.uic.edu/~kauffman/Eigen.pdf">http://homepages.math.uic.edu/~kauffman/Eigen.pdf</a>.<br>
      <br>
      Best<br>
      <br>
      Dai<br>
      <br>
    </div>
    <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 24/05/18 05:08, Louis H Kauffman
      wrote:<br>
    </div>
    <blockquote type="cite"
      cite="mid:BDB16228-8C40-4F26-9DB9-FCFA13F6D2C7@uic.edu">
      <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8">
      <div class="">Dai,</div>
      <div class="">I start down a road toward attempting to understand
        information by first understanding number and form.</div>
      <div class="">|</div>
      <div class="">||</div>
      <div class="">|||</div>
      <div class="">||||</div>
      <div class="">|||||</div>
      <div class="">…</div>
      <div class=""><br class="">
        <div class="">Is a number a thing?</div>
        <div class="">Is 2 a thing?</div>
        <div class="">Cannot say that this 2, this || “is” two. Rather
          it partakes in being a couple.</div>
        <div class="">2 is relational. We say that there are 2 signs in
          the word “is" because a standard couple can be matched to the
          i and the s.</div>
        <div class="">There is a potential process behind the concept 2.</div>
        <div class="">2 is a concept, but you cannot point to any
          existent “thing” and say “that is 2”.</div>
        <div class="">You can only say there are 2 of them here,
          indicating relationship.</div>
        <div class="">So process can also be subordinate to the
          existence of a something if that something is a concept.</div>
        <div class="">Numbers exist.</div>
        <div class="">Numbers are concepts.</div>
        <div class="">Numbers are related to processes of matching and
          comparing.</div>
        <div class="">But numbers are not these processes only.</div>
        <div class="">No thing is so real as the number 2.</div>
        <div class="">Numbers are at the base of what we mean by
          information.</div>
        <div class="">Do you want the actual couples to somehow allow 2
          to emerge in the proliferation of many many couples?</div>
        <div class="">Russel said: “2 is the collection of all couples.”</div>
        <div class="">Are you convinced that the collection of all
          possible couples captures the concept of 2?</div>
        <div class="">I doubt it unless you take collection to be a
          verb.</div>
        <div class="">There is no escape from sooner or later realizing
          that 2 exists only in the mind or in the Mind.</div>
        <div class="">Mind as eigenform never happens except at the
          limit where self-reference occurs.</div>
        <div class="">I am the observed link between myself and
          observing myself (HVF).</div>
        <div class="">Lou</div>
        <div class=""><br class="">
        </div>
        <div class=""><br class="">
          <div>
            <blockquote type="cite" class="">
              <div class="">On May 17, 2018, at 6:44 AM, Dai Griffiths
                <<a href="mailto:dai.griffiths.1@gmail.com" class=""
                  moz-do-not-send="true">dai.griffiths.1@gmail.com</a>>
                wrote:</div>
              <br class="Apple-interchange-newline">
              <div class="">
                <meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html;
                  charset=utf-8" class="">
                <div text="#000000" bgcolor="#FFFFFF" class="">
                  <p class="">What is a 'thing'? <br class="">
                  </p>
                  <p class="">Perhaps it is more reasonable to think
                    that  only processes exist, and that for human
                    convenience in living in the world we put conceptual
                    membranes around some parts of those processes and
                    call them 'things'. From this point of view we do
                    not have two aspects (things and predictions about
                    those things), but simply the monitoring of
                    processes, and theorising about what we find. This
                    does not preclude a taxonomy of processes (e.g.
                    mechanisms might be a special kind of process).<br
                      class="">
                  </p>
                  <p class="">Perhaps our "Is information physical"
                    problem could be usefully reformulated as "Is
                    information a thing?".<br class="">
                  </p>
                  Dai<br class="">
                  <br class="">
                  <br class="">
                  <div class="moz-cite-prefix">On 17/05/18 11:47, Jose
                    Javier Blanco Rivero wrote:<br class="">
                  </div>
                  <blockquote type="cite"
cite="mid:CAMEsQ-vORLzewKMRjuCgphxiQRssebdmaX-uWJT81m4rH7Gw=A@mail.gmail.com"
                    class="">
                    <p dir="ltr" class="">Dear FISers, </p>
                    <p dir="ltr" class="">I recently came across an old
                      interview to W. van Orman Quine and I got an idea
                      -maybe  not very original per se. Quine
                      distinguishes two kind of philosophical problems:
                      ontological (those referred to the existence of
                      things) and predicative (what can we say and know
                      about things). Against Quine materialism I came
                      across the idea that ontological problems are
                      undecidable -I think of Turing's Halting problem.
                      The fact is that we cannot leave the predicative
                      realm. All we have as scientists is scientifical
                      statements (therefore I think of Science as a
                      communicative social system differentiated from
                      its environment by means of a code -I think Loet
                      would agree with me in this point). As a system (I
                      mean not the social system, but the set of
                      statements taken as a unity) they all are
                      incomplete. There are many ways to deal with it,
                      as logicians have shown (in this point I confess I
                      would need to examine carefully B. Marchal's
                      ideas. I think I have many points of agreement
                      with him but also of disagreement -but honestly I
                      currently lack the knowledge to undertake a
                      thorough discussion). Self-reference, I think, is
                      one of the most coherent ways to deal with it. But
                      this means we have to learn to deal with
                      paradoxes. <br class="">
                      Accordingly, as information theorist we would need
                      to identify the constitutive paradox of
                      information and next unfold that paradox in a set
                      of statements that represent what we know about
                      information. The problem is that although we can
                      have the intuition that information is real,
                      physical as has been said, it cannot be proved. An
                      external reference like "reality ", if we look
                      carefully, acts as regulatory function within the
                      system. I remember that in the "Science of the
                      Society", Luhmann devised the concept of
                      consistency proofs (Konsistenzprüfung).But reality
                      as such, the Ding an sich, is inaccessible. In
                      conclusion, Quine would say that we should not be
                      asking us a question that cannot be answered. </p>
                    <p dir="ltr" class="">Best,</p>
                    <p dir="ltr" class="">JJ</p>
                    <div class="gmail_quote">El may 16, 2018 11:24 PM,
                      "Burgin, Mark" <<a
                        href="mailto:mburgin@math.ucla.edu"
                        moz-do-not-send="true" class="">mburgin@math.ucla.edu</a>>
                      escribió:<br type="attribution" class="">
                      <blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0
                        0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc
                        solid;padding-left:1ex">
                        <div bgcolor="#FFFFFF" text="#000000" class="">
                             Dear FISers,<br class="">
                             It was an interesting discussion, in which
                          many highly intelligent and creative
                          individuals participated expressing different
                          points of view. Many interesting ideas were
                          suggested. As a conclusion to this discussion,
                          I would like to suggest a logical analysis of
                          the problem based on our intrinsic and often
                          tacit assumptions.<br class="">
                          <br class="">
                             To great extent, our possibility to answer
                          the question “Is information physical? “
                          depends on our model of the world. Note that
                          here physical means the nature of information
                          and not its substance, or more exactly, the
                          substance of its carrier, which can be
                          physical, chemical biological or quantum. By
                          the way, expression “quantum information” is
                          only the way of expressing that the carrier of
                          information belongs to the quantum level of
                          nature. This is similar to the expressions
                          “mixed numbers” or “decimal numbers”, which
                          are only forms or number representations and
                          not numbers themselves.<br class="">
                           <br class="">
                            If we assume that there is only the physical
                          world, we have, at first, to answer the
                          question “Does information exist? “ All FISers
                          assume that information exists. Otherwise,
                          they would not participate in our discussions.
                          However, some people think differently (cf.,
                          for example, Furner, J. (2004) Information
                          studies without information).<br class="">
                          <br class="">
                             Now assuming that information exists, we
                          have only one option, namely, to admit that
                          information is physical because only physical
                          things exist.<br class="">
                             If we assume that there are two worlds -
                          information is physical, we have three options
                          assuming that information exists:<br class="">
                          - information is physical<br class="">
                          - information is mental<br class="">
                          - information is both physical and mental  <br
                            class="">
                          <br class="">
                          Finally, coming to the Existential Triad of
                          the World, which comprises three worlds - the
                          physical world, the mental world and the world
                          of structures, we have seven options assuming
                          that information exists:<br class="">
                          - information is physical<br class="">
                          - information is mental<br class="">
                          - information is structural  <br class="">
                          - information is both physical and mental  <br
                            class="">
                          - information is both physical and structural 
                          <br class="">
                          - information is both structural and mental  <br
                            class="">
                          - information is physical, structural and
                          mental  <br class="">
                            <br class="">
                           The solution suggested by the general theory
                          of information tries to avoid unnecessary
                          multiplication of essences suggesting that
                          information (in a general sense) exists in all
                          three worlds but … in the physical world, it
                          is called <b class="">energy</b>, in the
                          mental world, it is called <b class="">mental
                            energy</b>, and in the world of structures,
                          it is called <b class="">information</b> (in
                          the strict sense). This conclusion well
                          correlates with the suggestion of Mark Johnson
                          that information is both physical and not
                          physical only the general theory of
                          information makes this idea more exact and
                          testable.<br class="">
                             In addition, being in the world of
                          structures, information in the strict sense is
                          represented in two other worlds by its
                          representations and carriers. Note that any
                          representation of information is its carrier
                          but not each carrier of information is its
                          representation. For instance, an envelope with
                          a letter is a carrier of information in this
                          letter but it is not its representation.<br
                            class="">
                             Besides, it is possible to call all three
                          faces of information by the name energy -
                          physical energy, mental energy and structural
                          energy.<br class="">
                             <br class="">
                             Finally, as many interesting ideas were
                          suggested in this discussion, may be Krassimir
                          will continue his excellent initiative
                          combining the most interesting contributions
                          into a paper with the title<br class="">
                                                                       
                                                  <b class=""> Is
                            information physical?</b><br class="">
                             and publish it in his esteemed Journal.<br
                            class="">
                             <br class="">
                             Sincerely,<br class="">
                             Mark Burgin<br class="">
                          <br class="">
                          <div
                            class="m_-6888820020232975365moz-cite-prefix">On
                            5/11/2018 3:20 AM, Karl Javorszky wrote:<br
                              class="">
                          </div>
                          <blockquote type="cite" class="">
                            <div dir="auto" class="">Dear Arturo, 
                              <div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
                              </div>
                              <div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
                              </div>
                              <div dir="auto" class="">There were some
                                reports in clinical psychology, about 30
                                years ago, that relate to the question
                                whether a machine can pretend to be a
                                therapist. That was the time as
                                computers could newly be used in an
                                interactive fashion, and the Rogers
                                techniques were a current discovery.</div>
                              <div dir="auto" class="">(Rogers developed
                                a dialogue method where one does not
                                address the contents of what the patient
                                says, but rather the emotional aspects
                                of the message, assumed to be at work in
                                the patient.)</div>
                              <div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
                              </div>
                              <div dir="auto" class="">They then said,
                                that in some cases it was
                                indistinguishable, whether a human or a
                                machine provides the answer to a
                                patient's elucidations. </div>
                              <div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
                              </div>
                              <div dir="auto" class="">Progress since
                                then has surely made possible to create
                                machines that are indistinguishable in
                                interaction to humans. Indeed, what is
                                called "expert systems ", are widely
                                used in many fields. If the interaction
                                is rational,  that is: formally
                                equivalent to a logical discussion modi
                                Wittgenstein, the difference in: "who
                                arrived at this answer, machinery or a
                                human", becomes irrelevant. </div>
                              <div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
                              </div>
                              <div dir="auto" class="">Artistry,
                                intuition, creativity are presently seen
                                as not possible to translate into
                                Wittgenstein sentences. Maybe the inner
                                instincts are not yet well understood.
                                But!: there are some who are busily
                                undermining the current fundamentals of
                                rational thinking. So there is hope that
                                we shall live to experience the ultimate
                                disillusionment,  namely that humans are
                                a combinatorial tautology. </div>
                              <div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
                              </div>
                              <div dir="auto" class="">Accordingly, may
                                I respectfully express opposing views to
                                what you state: that machines and humans
                                are of incompatible builds. There are
                                hints that as far as rational
                                capabilities go, the same principles
                                apply. There is a rest, you say, which
                                is not of this kind. The counter
                                argument says that irrational processes
                                do not take place in organisms,
                                therefore what you refer to belongs to
                                the main process, maybe like waste
                                belongs to the organism's principle.
                                This view draws a picture of a
                                functional biotope, in which the waste
                                of one kind of organism is raw material
                                for a different kind. </div>
                              <div dir="auto" class=""><br class="">
                              </div>
                              <div dir="auto" class="">Karl </div>
                            </div>
                            <br class="">
                            <div class="gmail_quote">
                              <div dir="ltr" class=""> <<a
                                  href="mailto:tozziarturo@libero.it"
                                  target="_blank" moz-do-not-send="true"
                                  class="">tozziarturo@libero.it</a>>
                                schrieb am Do., 10. Mai 2018 15:24:<br
                                  class="">
                              </div>
                              <blockquote class="gmail_quote"
                                style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px
                                #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
                                <div class="">
                                  <p style="margin-top:0px" dir="ltr"
                                    class="">Dear Bruno, <br class="">
                                    You state: <br class="">
                                    "IF indexical digital mechanism is
                                    correct in the cognitive science,<br
                                      class="">
                                    THEN “physical” has to be defined
                                    entirely in arithmetical term, i.e.
                                    “physical” becomes a mathematical
                                    notion.<br class="">
                                    ...Indexical digital mechanism is
                                    the hypothesis that there is a level
                                    of description of the brain/body
                                    such that I would survive, or “not
                                    feel any change” if my brain/body is
                                    replaced by a digital machine
                                    emulating the brain/body at that
                                    level of description".</p>
                                  <p dir="ltr" class="">The problem of
                                    your account is the following:<br
                                      class="">
                                    You say "IF" and "indexical digital
                                    mechanism is the HYPOTHESIS".<br
                                      class="">
                                    Therefore, you are talking of an
                                    HYPOTHESIS: it is not empirically
                                    tested and it is not empirically
                                    testable.  You are starting with a
                                    sort of postulate: I, and other
                                    people, do not agree with it.  The
                                    current neuroscience does not state
                                    that our brain/body is (or can be
                                    replaced by) a digital machine.<br
                                      class="">
                                    In other words, your "IF" stands for
                                    something that possibly does not
                                    exist in our real world.  Here your
                                    entire building falls down.  <br
                                      class="">
                                  </p>
                                  <div
id="m_-6888820020232975365m_1048372877214317129mail-app-auto-default-signature"
                                    class="">
                                    <p dir="ltr" class="">--<br class="">
                                      Inviato da Libero Mail per Android</p>
                                  </div>
                                  giovedì, 10 maggio 2018, 02:46PM
                                  +02:00 da Bruno Marchal <a
                                    class="m_-6888820020232975365moz-txt-link-abbreviated"
                                    href="mailto:marchal@ulb.ac.be"
                                    target="_blank"
                                    moz-do-not-send="true">marchal@ulb.ac.be</a>:<br
                                    class="">
                                  <br class="">
                                  <blockquote
                                    id="m_-6888820020232975365m_1048372877214317129mail-app-auto-quote"
                                    style="border-left:1px solid
                                    #85af31;margin:0px 0px 0px
                                    10px;padding:0px 0px 0px 10px"
                                    cite="http://15259565360000035165/"
                                    class="">
                                    <div
                                      class="m_-6888820020232975365m_1048372877214317129js-helper
m_-6888820020232975365m_1048372877214317129js-readmsg-msg">
                                      <div class="">
                                        <div
id="m_-6888820020232975365m_1048372877214317129style_15259565360000035165_BODY"
                                          class="">
                                          <div
                                            class="m_-6888820020232975365m_1048372877214317129class_1525973693">
                                            <div class="">(This mail has
                                              been sent previously , but
                                              without success. I resend
                                              it, with minor changes).
                                              Problems due to different
                                              accounts. It was my first
                                              comment to Mark Burgin new
                                              thread “Is information
                                              physical?”.</div>
                                            <div class=""><br class="">
                                            </div>
                                            <div class=""><br class="">
                                            </div>
                                            Dear Mark, Dear Colleagues,
                                            <div class=""><br class="">
                                            </div>
                                            <div class=""><br class="">
                                            </div>
                                            <div class="">Apology for
                                              not answering the mails in
                                              the chronological orders,
                                              as my new computer
                                              classifies them in some
                                              mysterious way!</div>
                                            <div class="">This is my
                                              first post of the week. I
                                              might answer comment, if
                                              any, at the end of the
                                              week.</div>
                                            <div class=""><br class="">
                                            </div>
                                            <div class=""><br class="">
                                              <div class="">
                                                <blockquote type="cite"
                                                  class="">
                                                  <div class="">On 25
                                                    Apr 2018, at 03:47,
                                                    Burgin, Mark <<a
href="mailto:mburgin@math.ucla.edu" rel=" noopener noreferrer
                                                      noreferrer"
                                                      target="_blank"
                                                      moz-do-not-send="true"
                                                      class="">mburgin@math.ucla.edu</a>>
                                                    wrote:</div>
                                                  <br
class="m_-6888820020232975365m_1048372877214317129Apple-interchange-newline_mailru_css_attribute_postfix">
                                                  <div class="">
                                                    <p
                                                      style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class="">Dear
                                                      Colleagues,</p>
                                                    <p
                                                      style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class="">I would
                                                      like to suggest
                                                      the new topic for
                                                      discussion</p>
                                                    <p
                                                      style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class="">                              <wbr
                                                        class="">       
                                                      Is information
                                                      physical?<br
                                                        class="">
                                                    </p>
                                                  </div>
                                                </blockquote>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">That is an
                                                  important topic
                                                  indeed, very close to
                                                  what I am working on. </div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">My result
                                                  here is that </div>
                                                <div class=""><b
                                                    class=""><u class=""><br
                                                        class="">
                                                    </u></b></div>
                                                <div class=""><b
                                                    class=""><u class="">IF</u></b> indexical
                                                  digital mechanism is
                                                  correct in the
                                                  cognitive science, </div>
                                                <div class=""><b
                                                    class=""><u class=""><br
                                                        class="">
                                                    </u></b></div>
                                                <div class=""><b
                                                    class=""><u class="">THEN</u></b>  “physical”
                                                  has to be defined
                                                  entirely in
                                                  arithmetical term,
                                                  i.e. “physical”
                                                  becomes a mathematical
                                                  notion.</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">The proof
                                                  is constructive. It
                                                  shows exactly how to
                                                  derive physics from
                                                  Arithmetic (the
                                                  reality, not the
                                                  theory. I use
                                                  “reality” instead of
                                                  “model" (logician’s
                                                  term, because
                                                  physicists use “model"
                                                  for “theory").</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">Indexical
                                                  digital mechanism is
                                                  the hypothesis that
                                                  there is a level of
                                                  description of the
                                                  brain/body such that I
                                                  would survive, or “not
                                                  feel any change” if my
                                                  brain/body is replaced
                                                  by a digital machine
                                                  emulating the
                                                  brain/body at that
                                                  level of description.</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">Not only
                                                  information is not
                                                  physical, but matter,
                                                  time, space, and all
                                                  physical objects
                                                  become part of the
                                                  universal machine
                                                  phenomenology. Physics
                                                  is reduced to
                                                  arithmetic, or,
                                                  equivalently, to any
                                                  Turing-complete
                                                  machinery. Amazingly
                                                  Arithmetic (even the
                                                  tiny semi-computable
                                                  part of arithmetic) is
                                                  Turing complete
                                                  (Turing Universal).</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">The basic
                                                  idea is that:</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">1) no
                                                  universal machine can
                                                  distinguish if she is
                                                  executed by an
                                                  arithmetical reality
                                                  or by a physical
                                                  reality. And,</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">2) all
                                                  universal machines are
                                                  executed in
                                                  arithmetic, and they
                                                  are necessarily
                                                  undetermined on the
                                                  set of of all its
                                                  continuations emulated
                                                  in arithmetic. </div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">That
                                                  reduces physics to a
                                                  statistics on all
                                                  computations relative
                                                  to my actual state,
                                                  and see from some
                                                  first person points of
                                                  view (something I can
                                                  describe more
                                                  precisely in some
                                                  future post perhaps).</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">Put in
                                                  that way, the proof is
                                                  not constructive, as,
                                                  if we are machine, we
                                                  cannot know which
                                                  machine we are. But
                                                  Gödel’s incompleteness
                                                  can be used to recover
                                                  this constructively
                                                  for a simpler machine
                                                  than us, like Peano
                                                  arithmetic. This way
                                                  of proceeding enforces
                                                  the distinction
                                                  between first and
                                                  third person views
                                                  (and six others!).</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">I have
                                                  derived already many
                                                  feature of quantum
                                                  mechanics from this
                                                  (including the
                                                  possibility of quantum
                                                  computer) a long time
                                                  ago.  I was about sure
                                                  this would refute
                                                  Mechanism, until I
                                                  learned about quantum
                                                  mechanics, which
                                                  verifies all the most
                                                  startling predictions
                                                  of Indexical
                                                  Mechanism, unless we
                                                  add the controversial
                                                  wave collapse
                                                  reduction principle.</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">The
                                                  curious “many-worlds”
                                                  becomes the obvious
                                                  (in arithmetic) many
                                                  computations (up to
                                                  some equivalence
                                                  quotient). The weird
                                                  indeterminacy becomes
                                                  the simpler amoeba
                                                  like duplication. The
                                                  non-cloning of matter
                                                  becomes obvious: as
                                                  any piece of matter is
                                                  the result of the
                                                  first person
                                                  indeterminacy (the
                                                  first person view of
                                                  the amoeba undergoing
                                                  a duplication, …) on
                                                  infinitely many
                                                  computations. This
                                                  entails also that
                                                  neither matter
                                                  appearance nor
                                                  consciousness are
                                                  Turing emulable per
                                                  se, as the whole
                                                  arithmetical
                                                  reality—which is a
                                                  highly non computable
                                                  notion as we know
                                                  since Gödel—plays a
                                                  key role. Note this
                                                  makes Digital Physics
                                                  leaning to
                                                  inconsistency, as it
                                                  implies indexical
                                                  computationalism which
                                                  implies the negation
                                                  of Digital Physics
                                                  (unless my “body” is
                                                  the entire physical
                                                  universe, which I
                                                  rather doubt).</div>
                                                <br class="">
                                                <blockquote type="cite"
                                                  class="">
                                                  <div class="">
                                                    <p
                                                      style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class="">My
                                                      opinion is
                                                      presented below:<br
                                                        class="">
                                                    </p>
                                                    <div
                                                      style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class=""><br
class="m_-6888820020232975365m_1048372877214317129webkit-block-placeholder_mailru_css_attribute_postfix">
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div
                                                      style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class=""><br
class="m_-6888820020232975365m_1048372877214317129webkit-block-placeholder_mailru_css_attribute_postfix">
                                                    </div>
                                                    <div
                                                      style="margin:0in
                                                      0in
0.0001pt;font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class=""><span
                                                        class=""><span
                                                          class="">   </span>Why
                                                        some people
                                                        erroneously
                                                        think that
                                                        information is
                                                        physical</span></div>
                                                    <div
                                                      style="margin:0in
                                                      0in
0.0001pt;font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class=""><span
                                                        class="">   </span></div>
                                                    <div
                                                      style="margin:0in
                                                      0in
0.0001pt;font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class=""><span
                                                        class=""><span
                                                          class="">   </span>The
                                                        main reason to
                                                        think that
                                                        information is
                                                        physical is the
                                                        strong belief of
                                                        many people,
                                                        especially,
                                                        scientists that
                                                        there is only
                                                        physical
                                                        reality, which
                                                        is studied by
                                                        science. At the
                                                        same time,
                                                        people encounter
                                                        something that
                                                        they call
                                                        information.</span></div>
                                                    <div
                                                      style="margin:0in
                                                      0in
0.0001pt;font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class=""><span
                                                        class=""><span
                                                          class="">   </span>When
                                                        people receive a
                                                        letter, they
                                                        comprehend that
                                                        it is
                                                        information
                                                        because with the
                                                        letter they
                                                        receive
                                                        information. The
                                                        letter is
                                                        physical, i.e.,
                                                        a physical
                                                        object. As a
                                                        result, people
                                                        start thinking
                                                        that information
                                                        is physical.
                                                        When people
                                                        receive an
                                                        e-mail, they
                                                        comprehend that
                                                        it is
                                                        information
                                                        because with the
                                                        e-mail they
                                                        receive
                                                        information. The
                                                        e-mail comes to
                                                        the computer in
                                                        the form of
                                                        electromagnetic
                                                        waves, which are
                                                        physical. As a
                                                        result, people
                                                        start thinking
                                                        even more that
                                                        information is
                                                        physical.</span></div>
                                                    <div
                                                      style="margin:0in
                                                      0in
0.0001pt;font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class=""><span
                                                        class=""><span
                                                          class="">   </span>However,
                                                        letters,
                                                        electromagnetic
                                                        waves and
                                                        actually all
                                                        physical objects
                                                        are only
                                                        carriers or
                                                        containers of
                                                        information.</span></div>
                                                    <div
                                                      style="margin:0in
                                                      0in
0.0001pt;font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class=""><span
                                                        class=""><span
                                                          class="">   </span>To
                                                        understand this
                                                        better, let us
                                                        consider a
                                                        textbook. Is
                                                        possible to say
                                                        that this book
                                                        is knowledge?
                                                        Any reasonable
                                                        person will tell
                                                        that the
                                                        textbook
                                                        contains
                                                        knowledge but is
                                                        not knowledge
                                                        itself. In the
                                                        same way, the
                                                        textbook
                                                        contains
                                                        information but
                                                        is not
                                                        information
                                                        itself. The same
                                                        is true for
                                                        letters,
                                                        e-mails,
                                                        electromagnetic
                                                        waves and other
                                                        physical objects
                                                        because all of
                                                        them only
                                                        contain
                                                        information but
                                                        are not
                                                        information. For
                                                        instance, as we
                                                        know, different
                                                        letters can
                                                        contain the same
                                                        information.
                                                        Even if we make
                                                        an identical
                                                        copy of a letter
                                                        or any other
                                                        text, then the
                                                        letter and its
                                                        copy will be
                                                        different
                                                        physical objects
                                                        (physical
                                                        things) but they
                                                        will contain the
                                                        same
                                                        information.</span></div>
                                                    <div
                                                      style="margin:0in
                                                      0in
0.0001pt;font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class=""><span
                                                        class=""><span
                                                          class="">   </span>Information
                                                        belongs to a
                                                        different
                                                        (non-physical)
                                                        world of
                                                        knowledge, data
                                                        and similar
                                                        essences. In
                                                        spite of this,
                                                        information can
                                                        act on physical
                                                        objects
                                                        (physical
                                                        bodies) and this
                                                        action also
                                                        misleads people
                                                        who think that
                                                        information is
                                                        physical.</span></div>
                                                  </div>
                                                </blockquote>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">OK. The
                                                  reason is that we can
                                                  hardly imagine how
                                                  immaterial or non
                                                  physical objects can
                                                  alter the physical
                                                  realm. It is the usual
                                                  problem faced by
                                                  dualist ontologies.
                                                  With Indexical
                                                  computationalism we
                                                  recover many
                                                  dualities, but they
                                                  belong to the
                                                  phenomenologies.</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <br class="">
                                                <blockquote type="cite"
                                                  class="">
                                                  <div class="">
                                                    <div
                                                      style="margin:0in
                                                      0in
0.0001pt;font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class=""><span
                                                        class=""></span></div>
                                                    <div
                                                      style="margin:0in
                                                      0in
0.0001pt;font-size:10.5pt;font-family:Consolas;background-color:rgb(255,255,255)"
                                                      class=""><span
                                                        class=""><span
                                                          class="">   </span>One
                                                        more misleading
                                                        property of
                                                        information is
                                                        that people can
                                                        measure it. This
                                                        brings an
                                                        erroneous
                                                        assumption that
                                                        it is possible
                                                        to measure only
                                                        physical
                                                        essences.
                                                        Naturally, this
                                                        brings people to
                                                        the erroneous
                                                        conclusion that
                                                        information is
                                                        physical.
                                                        However,
                                                        measuring
                                                        information is
                                                        essentially
                                                        different than
                                                        measuring
                                                        physical
                                                        quantities,
                                                        i.e., weight.
                                                        There are no
                                                        “scales” that
                                                        measure
                                                        information.
                                                        Only human
                                                        intellect can do
                                                        this.</span></div>
                                                  </div>
                                                </blockquote>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">OK. I
                                                  think all intellect
                                                  can do that, not just
                                                  he human one.</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">Now, the
                                                  reason why people
                                                  believe in the
                                                  physical is always a
                                                  form of the “knocking
                                                  table” argument. They
                                                  knocks on the table
                                                  and say “you will not
                                                  tell me that this
                                                  table is unreal”.</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">I have got
                                                  so many people giving
                                                  me that argument, that
                                                  I have made dreams in
                                                  which I made that
                                                  argument, or even
                                                  where I was convinced
                                                  by that argument …
                                                  until I wake up.</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">When we do
                                                  metaphysics with the
                                                  scientific method,
                                                  this “dream argument”
                                                  illustrates that
                                                  seeing, measuring, …
                                                  cannot prove anything
                                                  ontological. A
                                                  subjective experience
                                                  proves only the
                                                  phenomenological
                                                  existence of
                                                  consciousness, and
                                                  nothing more. It shows
                                                  that although there
                                                  are plenty of strong
                                                  evidences for a
                                                  material reality,
                                                  there are no evidences
                                                  (yet) for a primitive
                                                  or primary matter (and
                                                  that is why, I think,
                                                  Aristotle assumes it
                                                  quasi explicitly,
                                                  against Plato, and
                                                  plausibly against
                                                  Pythagorus).</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">Mechanism
                                                  forces a coming back
                                                  to Plato, where the
                                                  worlds of ideas is the
                                                  world of programs, or
                                                  information, or even
                                                  just numbers, since
                                                  very elementary
                                                  arithmetic (PA without
                                                  induction, + the
                                                  predecessor axiom) is
                                                  already Turing
                                                  complete (it contains
                                                  what I have named a
                                                  Universal Dovetailer:
                                                  a program which
                                                  generates *and*
                                                  executes all
                                                  programs).</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">So I agree
                                                  with you: information
                                                  is not physical. I
                                                  claim that if we
                                                  assume Mechanism
                                                  (Indexical
                                                  computationalism)
                                                  matter itself is also
                                                  not *primarily*
                                                  physical: it is all in
                                                  the “head of the
                                                  universal
                                                  machine/number” (so to
                                                  speak).</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">And this
                                                  provides a test for
                                                  primary matter: it is
                                                  enough to find if
                                                  there is a discrepancy
                                                  between the physics
                                                  that we infer from the
                                                  observation, and the
                                                  physics that we
                                                  extract from “the
                                                  head” of the machine.
                                                  This took me more than
                                                  30 years of work, but
                                                  the results obtained
                                                  up to now is that
                                                  there is no
                                                  discrepancies. I have
                                                  compared the quantum
                                                  logic imposed by
                                                  incompleteness
                                                  (formally) on the
                                                  semi-computable
                                                  (partial recursive,
                                                  sigma_1) propositions,
                                                  with most quantum
                                                  logics given by
                                                  physicists, and it
                                                  fits rather well.</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">Best
                                                  regards,</div>
                                                <div class=""><br
                                                    class="">
                                                </div>
                                                <div class="">Bruno</div>
                                              </div>
                                            </div>
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                  <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
-----------------------------------------

Professor David (Dai) Griffiths
Professor of Education
School of Education and Psychology
The University of Bolton
Deane Road
Bolton, BL3 5AB

Office: M106

SKYPE: daigriffiths

Phones (please don't leave voice mail)
   UK Mobile +44 (0)7491151559
   Spanish Mobile: + 34 687955912
   Work landline: + 44 (0)1204903598

email
   <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:d.e.griffiths@bolton.ac.uk" moz-do-not-send="true">d.e.griffiths@bolton.ac.uk</a>  
   <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:dai.griffiths.1@gmail.com" moz-do-not-send="true">dai.griffiths.1@gmail.com</a></pre>
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    <pre class="moz-signature" cols="72">-- 
-----------------------------------------

Professor David (Dai) Griffiths
Professor of Education
School of Education and Psychology
The University of Bolton
Deane Road
Bolton, BL3 5AB

Office: M106

SKYPE: daigriffiths

Phones (please don't leave voice mail)
   UK Mobile +44 (0)7491151559
   Spanish Mobile: + 34 687955912
   Work landline: + 44 (0)1204903598

email
   <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:d.e.griffiths@bolton.ac.uk">d.e.griffiths@bolton.ac.uk</a>  
   <a class="moz-txt-link-abbreviated" href="mailto:dai.griffiths.1@gmail.com">dai.griffiths.1@gmail.com</a></pre>
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