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<div class="MsoNoSpacing" align="center" style="text-align:center"><span style="font-size:16.0pt">The Evolution of Information<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div class="MsoNormal"><span style="font-size:12.0pt;line-height:115%;mso-bidi-font-family:"Times New Roman"">Most of us think that information is a relatively new
phenomenon, limited to human kind, computers, and perhaps to animals. But that view is wrong. Information reared its head in the first 10<sub>32
</sub>second of the big bang. It got its
start when space first told matter how to move.
That was a communicational exchange.
An informational exchange. And
information showed itself in that first
10<sub>32 </sub>second after the Big Bang when the first “things” precipitated
from a sheet of space and time. Those first
things were leptons and quarks. And
quarks have a peculiar property. They
cannot survive on their own. So they rushed to find each other and to gang up
in groups of two or three. But not just
any partners would do. Each quark was
born with the equivalent of an etiquette book, an instruction manual telling it
which fellow quarks to rush toward and which quarks to avoid. Each quark was born picky. Each quark was born with a vocabulary called
attraction and repulsion. Each quark read
the signals from another quark and either sped away or glommed together in a
permanent embrace. Yes, quarks met
others and either rushed away or sped toward each other to embrace. How did quarks “know” which to do? They read each other’s signals. They read each other’s electromagnetic and
weak force. Then they acted on those
signals. In other words, quarks
exchanged information. In my book The
God Problem, How a Godless Cosmos Creates, I give a simple definition of
information. Information, says the God
Problem, is anything a receiver can interpret.
How do we know when a receiver is getting the message? We watch the receiver’s response. In other words, stimulus and response—the two
things that BF Skinner felt were the core of psychology--are vital to the
observation of information. Quarks
fleeing from each other or flying together were responding to the cues of other
quarks. They were interpreting a
stimulus and producing a response. They
were communicative. They were
social. And they were informational.
Those 13.8-billion-year-old social quarks, by the way, are alive inside of you
and me today. Quark threesomes are your
protons and neutrons. But there’s more. Informational processes of the sort we
see in quarks appear at every stage of the cosmos’ evolution. They appear in attraction and repulsion. Information, attraction, and repulsion showed
up 380,000 years after the big bang in electrons and protons. Electrons and protons read each other’s
electromagnetic signals and came together as atoms. Attraction, repulsion and information appeared
in the sweepings of cosmic dust that would someday be called galaxies. Information and attraction showed up in the
form of gravity, signals that change based on a body’s mass. Information and attraction appeared in the
gravity balls that would form stars, planets and moons. Informaion, attraction, and repulsion
appeared when atoms read each others signals and came together in the first
molecules. And they information,
attraction, and repulsion are alive in every macromolecule that would become a
part of life. Molecules communicate with
each other via electromagnetism and either attract or repel. Information is the backbone of the evolution
of the universe. And information is the
essence of the gatherings of matter that think of themselves as you and me.<o:p></o:p></span></div>
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<div style="font-family:arial,helvetica;font-size:10pt;color:black"><font size="2">-----Original Message-----<br>
From: Karl Javorszky <karl.javorszky@gmail.com><br>
To: Joseph Brenner <joe.brenner@bluewin.ch><br>
Cc: fis <fis@listas.unizar.es>; Christophe Menant <christophe.menant@hotmail.fr><br>
Sent: Thu, Mar 17, 2022 6:57 am<br>
Subject: Re: [Fis] Fwd: TR: RE: How Molecules Became Signs. One Way Out.<br>
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<div>Yes, this is absolutely correct
<div><b style="font-size:12.8px;text-indent:47.2px;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Meaningful information is reality in potential form</font></b></div>
<div><b style="font-size:12.8px;text-indent:47.2px;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><br clear="none"></font></b></div>
<div><b style="font-size:12.8px;text-indent:47.2px;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Congratulations! </font></b></div>
<div><b style="font-size:12.8px;text-indent:47.2px;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><br clear="none"></font></b></div>
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<div class="yiv1326578568gmail_quote">
<div dir="ltr" class="yiv1326578568gmail_attr"><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch" target="_blank" href="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch">joe.brenner@bluewin.ch</a> <<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch" target="_blank" href="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch">joe.brenner@bluewin.ch</a>> schrieb am Do., 17. März 2022, 11:34:<br clear="none"></div>
<blockquote style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex;" class="yiv1326578568gmail_quote">
<div id="yiv1326578568yqt25668" class="yiv1326578568yqt5626384229"><blockquote style="margin-right:0px;margin-left:15px;">
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1326578568m_3856625230938336224divRplyFwdMsg"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Dear Christophe and All,</font></div>
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<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1326578568m_3856625230938336224divRplyFwdMsg"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">In his note, reproduced below, Christophe provides an interim answer to my first response to his of the same day (March 13). In looking at the relation between Information and Meaning, he looked forward (as I certainly do) to further input by Terry regarding the potential of information as meaning and the process of emergence. (One should perhaps better write information_as_meaning.) In the meantime, I offer my own interpretation from my recent (2020) book with Andrei Igamberdiev:</font></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1326578568m_3856625230938336224divRplyFwdMsg">
<div style="text-indent:0in;line-height:normal;"><span style="color:windowtext;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><br clear="none"></font></span></div>
<div style="text-indent:0in;line-height:normal;"><span style="color:windowtext;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">"I
summarized the concept developed in LIR (Logic in Reality) in the following points:<u></u><u></u></font></span></div>
<div style="text-indent:0in;line-height:normal;"><span style="color:windowtext;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"> </font></span></div>
<div style="margin-left:88.5pt;line-height:normal;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><span style="color:windowtext;">1.<span style="font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;"> </span></span><span style="color:windowtext;">Information
generation and transfer occur in nature as a natural process that is
constituted by and requires energy.<u></u><u></u></span></font></div>
<div style="margin-left:88.5pt;line-height:normal;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><span style="color:windowtext;">2.<span style="font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;"> </span></span><span style="color:windowtext;">Information
is present throughout nature, but its conversion to meaning requires organisms
capable of recursive processing of it.<u></u><u></u></span></font></div>
<div style="margin-left:88.5pt;line-height:normal;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><span style="color:windowtext;">3.<span style="font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;"> </span></span><span style="color:windowtext;">Meaning
is constituted by all the information valuable to a living organism for its
survival, reproduction and well-being.<u></u><u></u></span></font></div>
<div style="margin-left:88.5pt;line-height:normal;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><span style="color:windowtext;">4.<span style="font-stretch:normal;line-height:normal;"> </span></span><span style="color:windowtext;">Information
processes follow principles applicable to energy and energetic processes in
general <u></u><u></u></span></font></div>
<div style="text-indent:0in;line-height:normal;"><b><span style="color:windowtext;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"> </font></span></b></div>
<div style="text-indent:35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:windowtext;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Many authors have noted the complexity of information
and the difficulty of giving a ‘single, clear’ definition of it. Attempts to do
so are typical of standard substance ontologies, where firm definitions –
identities - are automatically given preference. The failure of such attempts
suggests that a major categorial error is being made. I therefore made the
following lapidary statement:<u></u><u></u></font></span></div>
<div style="text-indent:35.4pt;"><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:windowtext;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"> </font></span></div>
<div style="text-indent:35.4pt;"><b><span lang="EN-GB" style="color:windowtext;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Meaningful information is reality in potential form.<u></u><u></u></font></span></b></div>
<div class="yiv1326578568MsoNormal"><span lang="EN-GB"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"> </font></span></div>
<div class="yiv1326578568MsoNormal"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><span lang="EN-GB">It is
derived from the Lupasco/LIR conception of consciousness which basically looks at the real dialectical interactions in and between
internal and external, and internalizing and externalizing processes as they
move between potentiality and actuality.</span><u></u><u></u></font></div>
</div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1326578568m_3856625230938336224divRplyFwdMsg"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><br clear="none"></font></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1326578568m_3856625230938336224divRplyFwdMsg"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">I suggest that the above can be placed in relation to Christophe's Systemic Theory of Meaning, most recently of March 2020, (his reference MENITA-7 below), which constitutes the primarily epistemological part of a more complete theory embodying my ontological ideas as well.</font></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1326578568m_3856625230938336224divRplyFwdMsg"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">These fit well, at least in my view, with Christophe's treatment of anxiety in which potential states are critical, also for emergence.</font></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1326578568m_3856625230938336224divRplyFwdMsg"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><br clear="none"></font></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1326578568m_3856625230938336224divRplyFwdMsg"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Thank you and best wishes,</font></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1326578568m_3856625230938336224divRplyFwdMsg"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Joseph</font></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1326578568m_3856625230938336224divRplyFwdMsg"><font color="#000000" face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><b><br clear="none"></b></font></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1326578568m_3856625230938336224divRplyFwdMsg"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><b>De :</b> Christophe Menant <<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr" target="_blank" href="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr">christophe.menant@hotmail.fr</a>></font></div>
<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1326578568m_3856625230938336224divRplyFwdMsg"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><font color="#000000"><b>Envoyé :</b> dimanche 13 mars 2022 18:26<br clear="none"><b>À :</b> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch" target="_blank" href="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch">joe.brenner@bluewin.ch</a> <<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch" target="_blank" href="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch">joe.brenner@bluewin.ch</a>><br clear="none"><b>Objet :</b> RE: RE: [Fis] How Molecules Became Signs. One Way Out. OFF-LINE for one point</font>
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<div style="margin:0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Joseph, </font></span></div>
<div style="margin:0cm;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">We can agree that a process transforms an input into an output.<br clear="none"> Reverse engineering, as I know it, is a tool to improve processes. We know what we want at the output. We look at how the process builds it in order to see if it is the best way to do so (other ways may exist and be better). <span> </span><br clear="none"> The output is then the starting point. It needs to be clearly defined and understood to address possible improvements of the process that builds it.<br clear="none"> Our case is about an evolutionary process that transforms meaningless states present in a-biotic matter into meaningful states present in living matter. We need there a precise definition of what is expected as output of the process (meaningful information) in order to look at how the evolutionary process may have produced it. <br clear="none"> </font></span></div>
<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"> Best
<br clear="none"> Christophe
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<div dir="ltr" id="yiv1326578568m_3856625230938336224x_divRplyFwdMsg">
<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><font color="#000000"><b>De :</b> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch" target="_blank" href="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch">joe.brenner@bluewin.ch</a> <<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch" target="_blank" href="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch">joe.brenner@bluewin.ch</a>><br clear="none"><b>Envoyé :</b> dimanche 13 mars 2022 15:12<br clear="none"><b>À :</b> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr" target="_blank" href="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr">christophe.menant@hotmail.fr</a> <<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr" target="_blank" href="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr">christophe.menant@hotmail.fr</a>><br clear="none"><b>Objet :</b> Re: RE: [Fis] How Molecules Became Signs. One Way Out. OFF-LINE for one point</font>
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<div>
<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Before giving a full response to your very promising note, please let me ask you one question about reverse engineering: is it really necessary to know the <i>outcome </i>of the process, which may be difficult or impossible? If Information IS Meaning, then the relative weight of actual and potential defines the probability of an outcome, not the outcome itself. Qu'est-ce que tu en dit?
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<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Best,
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<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Joseph<br clear="none">
</font><blockquote style="margin-right:0.0px;margin-left:15.0px;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">
----Message d'origine----
<br clear="none"> De : <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr" target="_blank" href="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr">christophe.menant@hotmail.fr</a>
<br clear="none"> Date : 13/03/2022 - 14:46 (CEST)
<br clear="none"> À : <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch" target="_blank" href="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch">joe.brenner@bluewin.ch</a>
<br clear="none"> Cc : <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es" target="_blank" href="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es">fis@listas.unizar.es</a>, <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:deacon@berkeley.edu" target="_blank" href="mailto:deacon@berkeley.edu">deacon@berkeley.edu</a>
<br clear="none"> Objet : RE: [Fis] How Molecules Became Signs. One Way Out
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<div style="margin:0cm;background:white;"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0.0cm;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Thanks Joseph for your position. <span> </span><br clear="none"><br clear="none"> If I understand you well:<br clear="none"> 1) There is information and meaning in our world (I&M).<br clear="none"> 2) There is no information nor meaning in an a-biotic/inert world.<br clear="none"> 3) In that a-biotic/inert world there is only “potential for<span> information as meaning”.<br clear="none"> 4) Information is defined in the process of its emergence from some energetic ground.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"> In addition, I feel we can say that:<br clear="none"> a) I&M can be defined (<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" target="_blank" href="https://nam12.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fphilpapers.org%2Frec%2FMENITA-7&data=04%7C01%7C%7C51d6eef991104b4f37b108da04fb8e0e%7C84df9e7fe9f640afb435aaaaaaaaaaaa%7C1%7C0%7C637827775706215913%7CUnknown%7CTWFpbGZsb3d8eyJWIjoiMC4wLjAwMDAiLCJQIjoiV2luMzIiLCJBTiI6Ik1haWwiLCJXVCI6Mn0%3D%7C3000&sdata=e2LmaRbblxmlDLTa90ByDnVicS4oek6hA%2Bjm4g4qb8c%3D&reserved=0" style="color:blue;text-decoration:underline;background-color:rgb(255,255,255);">https://philpapers.org/rec/MENITA-7</a>).<br clear="none"> b) Having from Terry his definitions for I&M would allow a better understanding of the “potential for<span> information as meaning” and of the “process of emergence”.<br clear="none"> This is about the well known reverse engineering activity where the outcome of a process is available, and when we look for some understanding about the process itself. The more we know about the outcome of the process, the more we can pretend understanding the process.<br clear="none"> Here we need to clearly know the outcome of the process. We need definitions for I&M by Terry. Their availability is needed to look at understanding the “potential for<span> information as meaning” and the “process of emergence”.<br clear="none"><br clear="none"></span><span lang="EN-US">All the best </span></span></span></font></span></div>
<div style="margin:0cm;background:white;"><span><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black;border:none windowtext 1.0pt;padding:0.0cm;">Christophe</span><span lang="EN-US" style="color:black;"> </span></font></span></div>
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<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3"><font color="#000000"><b>De :</b> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch" target="_blank" href="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch">joe.brenner@bluewin.ch</a> <<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch" target="_blank" href="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch">joe.brenner@bluewin.ch</a>><br clear="none"><b>Envoyé :</b> dimanche 13 mars 2022 11:51<br clear="none"><b>À :</b> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr" target="_blank" href="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr">christophe.menant@hotmail.fr</a> <<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr" target="_blank" href="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr">christophe.menant@hotmail.fr</a>><br clear="none"><b>Cc :</b> <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es" target="_blank" href="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es">fis@listas.unizar.es</a> <<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es" target="_blank" href="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es">fis@listas.unizar.es</a>>; <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:deacon@berkeley.edu" target="_blank" href="mailto:deacon@berkeley.edu">deacon@berkeley.edu</a> <<a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:deacon@berkeley.edu" target="_blank" href="mailto:deacon@berkeley.edu">deacon@berkeley.edu</a>><br clear="none"><b>Objet :</b> Re: [Fis] How Molecules Became Signs. One Way Out</font>
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<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Dear Friends and Colleagues,
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<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">There is one way out of the dilemma which has not been directly refuted. When Christophe and others ask if can we talk of information in an a-biotic or pre-biotic world, if information means something actual, present, the answer is no. If one asks instead did
the
<i>potential </i>
for information as meaning exist, the answer for me is yes.
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<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">An additional statement must be added, otherwise the above is no more than a trivial tautology. It is that information is defined in the process of its emergence from some energetic ground. Since no process, nothing <i>in process</i> is complete, complete and <b>incomplete </b>parts of the process are present simultaneously and dynamically. The locus of this "nascent" information is the detailed physico-chemical structure of the living entities involved and their non-living constituents. These or parts of them move from actual to potential and <i>vice versa </i>and this movement is what ultimately defines their meaning.
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<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">One reading of the above is that I have given a new interpretation of the nature of a sign. I would gladly accept this, provided it can be subsequently decided whether or not the concept of sign adds further information. It may not.
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<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Thank you and best wishes,
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<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Joseph
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<br clear="none"> De : <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr" target="_blank" href="mailto:christophe.menant@hotmail.fr">christophe.menant@hotmail.fr</a>
<br clear="none"> Date : 13/03/2022 - 00:02 (CEST)
<br clear="none"> À : <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:deacon@berkeley.edu" target="_blank" href="mailto:deacon@berkeley.edu">deacon@berkeley.edu</a>, <a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" ymailto="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es" target="_blank" href="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es">fis@listas.unizar.es</a>
<br clear="none"> Objet : [Fis] How Molecules Became Signs
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<font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">Dear Friends,
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<span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);display:inline;"><span lang="EN-US" style="border:1pt none windowtext;padding:0cm;"><font face="trebuchet ms, sans-serif" size="3">that war is a horrible drama for innocent civilians. And I agree with your comments.<br clear="none"> Our FIS discussions cannot bring much help to that human drama, but our tentative analysis of what is “information” may somehow lead to a better understanding of human motivations guide behaviors. </font><br clear="none"><font face="Times New Roman, serif" style="font-size:12pt;"> Let me add another comment to Terry’s work. </font><br clear="none"></span><b style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;color:rgb(42,42,42);"><br clear="none"></span></b><a rel="nofollow noopener noreferrer" shape="rect" style="font-size:14.6667px;font-family:Calibri, sans-serif;"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12.0pt;font-family:New serif;color:rgb(42,42,42);">Dear Terry</span></a><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:12pt;font-family:New serif;color:rgb(42,42,42);">, <br clear="none"> In addition to my Feb 23 post I would appreciate some information on parts of your paper I may not have understood that well. <br clear="none"> Regarding the concept of information, you consider that information in a pragmatic-functional sense can be understood in terms of molecular evolution. <br clear="none"> This brings to consider that “information” is present in an a-biotic or pre-biotic world (a purely molecular world). Such pre-biotic world has existed before the emergence of life in our universe. But can we talk of information and meaning, of signs, in such a world? How should they be understood in a purely material world devoid of living entities? <br clear="none"> As said,<span> </span>it would be nice if you could clarify these points by making available definitions for information, meaning and sign in such an a-biotic world. This would allow a better understanding of your starting point.<br clear="none"> Also, I do not see that well using the Peircean term of “Interpretant” for an inert world. We know that the Interpretant (the meaning) needs an Interpreter (the meaning generator). So introducing Interpretants in your paper also brings to introduce Interpreters in an inert world. Your sentence “In Peircean terms, this amounts to asking what sort of molecular system is competent to produce the Interpretants” is equivalent to: “what sort of molecular system is competent to generate meanings”. I’m not sure that meaning generation by a molecular system <span style="background-color:rgb(255,255,255);display:inline;"> in a purely material and inert world </span>can be clearly understood by today science or philosophy. And I do not remember Peirce theory of sign being about inert matter. Could you tel us more about your position on these subject? <br clear="none"> Thanks again for your time <br clear="none"> Christophe</span><br clear="none"></span>
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