IT

[einseele]

Information technology is a good tool to point an address concept that
once in a while I use to bother all of you :-)
If we for instance take the string: 'Hello world' and want to express
it through a binary code, (this is not trying to discuss IT but
linguistics), we get then the following number:

0100100001100101011011000110110001101111001000000111011101101111011100100110110001100100

If you want it into octal is:

110145154154157040167157162154144

And there you go

If you want to play with this, like trying your name or other options
there are a bunch of sites which you can visit, like:

http://www.stumbleupon.com/su/1PldXx/nickciske.com/tools/binary.php

The question is, which is the difference under the information point
of view between

Hello world
0100100001100101011011000110110001101111001000000111011101101111011100100110110001100100
or
110145154154157040167157162154144

The answer is none

All three (and many other) point to the same address, using a
different mean

All three are just the pointers, and the address is just one.

Finally, where is that information (I equal here information =
address)

Information can only be pointed, and will be always absent. Knowledge
and information shares this part

IMHO this is a spatial concept were pointers has of course mass,
contrary to information which can only live in the empty part of the
equation.

This is not new of course, it is just the same old battle in
epistemology but under a linguistic point of view

[Lonnie Clay]

Yes einseele you make a good point. The label or address if you prefer is not the thing. Others here have made similar observations in the context of philosophical viewpoints regarding what awareness perceives as opposed to what exists. I feel sufficiently inspired this morning to add a penny of my thoughts to what I suspect is going to be a long thread.

Whence come original thoughts, new ideas, intuitive leaps? Do they spring forth from nothingness, being spontaneously created by a critical mass of associations? I think that it was Thomas Edison who said "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration." In other words, inventing something is easier said than done. Some say that inspiration comes from GOD. But that just shifts the burden to higher ground, because where then does GOD get the raw material for inspiration?

Perhaps someone is a master chef, taking ingredients plucked from the garden or bought at a store and preparing them into a tasty concoction which gives us food for thought. But once again, that begs the question. Whence come the seeds which grow into the ingredients? Where does the chef live, what does that KITCHEN look like, what are the kitchen implements, who manufactured them? 

Let's backtrack a bit trying to get at the roots of thinking. "Information alters consciousness." At conception we humans are single cell lifeforms created by the cooperation of an egg with an invading sperm cell. Their DNA strands split apart then fuse together to form a new instructional sequence for a hardware specification which has been proven as robust in its fault tolerance, adaptive in its processing, heterogenous in its expansion, and self limiting in its overall design. So eventually you obtain from that cell a human body which contains nervous, circulatory, respiratory, skeletal, digestive, immune, muscular, and other systems each of which has subsystem structures composed of cells. At the core of every cell is a DNA strand which is a variant of the combined DNA at conception. A cell is itself a complex and fascinating package in the microscopic domain. I am a software engineer rather than a biologist, so I will butt out of that topic before I make a silly blunder.

They say that self awareness begins in the womb with sensations of pressure, specifically the pulsing of the mother's heartbeat and sensations of warmth. Later on once the other glands have developed come sound etc. But has the fetus learned anything before leaving the womb? In most cases, there is a definite yes, because one of the things which uncomfortable fetuses do is kick out to let mother know that baby is uncomfortable. Baby will kick more often if mother makes baby comfortable in response to kicking. So there you have it, without instruction in higher institutions of learning even FETUSES understand feedback control theory to a certain extent! LOL LOL LOL!

Encoded in that DNA strand are the instructions for self assembling a complete baby, provided that nutrients are available to the cells of the fetus in the womb. Implicit in the design of nerve cells is the ability to communicate, store information, and *get this* correlate data in interaction with other cells through threshold triggering of nerve impulses. A nerve cell is a networked computer wrapped in foil. It has an identity depending upon its location in the body, a state vector of biological molecules and electrical energy, and a transitional rule subsystem which based upon DNA interprets the cell's state in relation to stimuli to determine what the next state will be.

This post is getting to be a bit long, so the discussion will be continued in the next post, upcoming.

Lonnie Courtney Clay

[einseele]

Or yes!
Excellent post LC

[awori achoka]

Thanks Lonnie, great reading.

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[Lonnie Clay]

Having established in the preceding post that a DNA strand is capable of producing a baby given enough nutrients, I'll move forward into the realm of artificial intelligence. At birth the brain already has quite a bit of experience in control systems theory due to keeping the baby's body functioning and growing. At birth a new stage commences of interacting with the environment. Baby inhales and screams! Sad to say, in modern hospitals the presentation of mother's breast to satisfy the demand for a slave by baby is lacking, permanently traumatizing baby's judgmental processes. But that is a topic upon which (as a bachelor) I can be presumed incompetant. So let's move forward. As baby interacts daily, baby becomes aware that sounds and sights are related to the caring of baby. Screams bring attention, relieving baby's soiled diapers and providing food to be converted by baby into growth and waste. Eventually something clicks in baby and baby attempts to imitate the sounds of the nurturers, learning language.

***** CRAZY TALK ALERT *****
Although there is evidence from brain stimulation experiments that electrical probes can stimulate memory RECALL, there is NOT a SHRED of evidence that abstract reasoning occurs within the brain, or even that the data accessed by memory is found in the cells of the brain itself. I claim that structures within the brain have only the purpose of controlling bodily functions and providing a hardware interface for a soul(s) to communicate from higher realms down to the flesh puppet body. If you can swallow that, then the question becomes : "Why is there a soul communications interface built into brains?" Unless you want to get into metaphysical theorizing, I'll just say that "Maybe the situation is more interesting down here..."

***** *****

Having ratcheted the discussion to new heights, let's get back to baby. Using an intuitive grasp of the correlative cause and effect relationship for events sensed which occur in baby's environment, baby constructs decision trees based upon repetitive correlations, evidencing an understanding of probabilistic determinism. Baby experiments with the senses and output mechanisms, moving eyes to track nurturers, focusing upon breast or bottle, experimenting with baby's ability to consume. Before baby ever utters the first word beyond apparently random shrieks, gasps, and gurgles, baby attains some mastery of interpretation of touch, hearing, taste, smell, and sight. Baby practices motion control, reaching out baby's grubby hands to grab whatever is in reach, squirming about for comfort etc.

One day baby says "Mmmm" and mama says "mama" back until with practice baby masters its first word. In my case the first word that I *understood* rather than simply imitated was "EAT". I grew up on English with noun, verb, object structure, which sure does look like a "natural" computer language doesn't it? But that is enough about babies, let's get back to the OP topic of the label or address versus the thing.

environment and mental status->

senses->

intuitive grasp->

correlation based upon experience->

categorization->

classification->

abstract correlation with memory->

interpretation->

associative reasoning->

insight and inspiration->

abstract reasoning->

judgement->

conclusions and goals->back to top

The actual path of information is far more complex than that, with interior loops within stages, feedback to refine senses, feedback to get a better grasp of the situation based upon conclusions etc. The diagram is almost certainly not topologically flat even for an idiot. Notice that the final stage is the drawing of conclusions and goals before going back to square one. Some people jump all of the way from their environment and mental status directly to conclusions and goals, bypassing the intervening stages by "jumping to conclusions" which is relatively "senseless" behavior LOLOL. Some of them even admit that they "don't believe my senses" or exclaim that "This situation is senseless!"

End part 2, more forthcoming

Lonnie Courtney Clay

On Tuesday, July 26, 2011 7:06:20 AM UTC-7, einseele wrote:

Or yes!
Excellent post LC

[Lonnie Clay]

environment and mental status->

Before the senses are engaged, a body must be receptive to input. This receptivity can be summarized as situational awareness and perceptiveness. The mental status ranges from utterly oblivious to excruciatingly aware. To sense something a sensory receptor must have a linkage to a nerve cell. Almost all nerve cells link to other nerve cells to send information from a sensory receptor to a sensory processing node within the brain. The sole exception of which I am aware is autonomous reflexes, where a receptor links to a nerve cell, whose sole linkage is to a muscular contractile cell of the skin.

senses->

Without being specific about which sense is under discussion, it can be stated in general that a sensory cell has some type of transducer to translate from raw input to coded data suitable for transmission to and processing by a nerve cell. The sensitivity of senses is dependent not only upon incoming raw data, but also upon the experiential base of the receptor cell, specifically upon whether the receptor cell has the biological wherewithal to perform its function. Overuse of a receptor cell results in depletion of supplies and reduced sensitivity.

intuitive grasp->

A complex dance of feedback loops occurs as senses are used, with a body gaining experience in focus and translation of raw data into interpreted information. Without that dance, senses would simply provide a random cascade of gibberish without derived meaning. There is a very high success rate in deriving meaning from senses BECAUSE without the ability to understand and control its environment, an organism will fail to survive. Modern organisms are a result of evolutionary pressure exerted upon previous generations of their ancestors.

correlation based upon experience->

The intuitive grasp stage preprocesses data for the determination of significance, relevance, and priority based upon experience. These mental tasks permit the sorting of input into allocations of mental processing resources within the brain, and also autonomous bodily responses to resupply cells which are determined to be sources of critical data approaching saturation status. The correlation processing takes the data from numerous sensory cells and reshapes it into packets of associated information. The formation of packets depends upon the sense involved. For example the visual cells have far greater number yet individually less data content than the auditory cells which are fewer in number with more range of data content.

categorization->

At this stage the information packets are routed from the central nervous system into specific areas of the brain which have been trained to process their own protocols for data packets. The body LEARNS how to sort the data for processing, with preferred zones of processing. However it is well known than brain trauma resulting in loss of tissue can be overcome to permit (albeit at a less efficient level) the processing of sensory data in sites other than the preferred design locations. Every brain uniquely trains itself for data packet processing based upon sensory load. To give one example, it is well known that the loss of sight results in far more acute hearing as time passes by, with idle brain capacity formerly utilized for visual interpretation being reallocated for auditory processing.

classification->

The data is abstracted from packets to determine whether the sensory information has varied significantly from its previous state. This efficient mechanism permits the brain to avoid doing the higher level functions for data which has already been interpreted in previous moments. The brain is wise enough not to spend its time and biological resources upon constantly re-inventing the wheel. A change in sensory status signals the brains higher functions to work, while the same old stuff gets ignored. We are all familiar with the old saying "it faded from my senses through repetition" in some fashion or another.

abstract correlation with memory->

The abstracted data is compared with experience based learned associations pulled from memory. The reflexive processes come into play at last. A body's mechanisms can react subconsciously to sensory input processed to reach this stage so that bodily reactions permit "saving the situation" when memory indicates "danger!" Once again significance, relevance, and priority come into play but at a much higher level of association based upon memorized experience. A memory search proceeds to find the data which most closely matches the current information. Then the best matches are retained for higher level functions to process. The old saying "I remember something like that from yesterday/ long ago" becomes relevant here.

interpretation->

associative reasoning->

insight and inspiration->

abstract reasoning->

judgement->

conclusions and goals->back to top

End part 3 more forthcoming

Lonnie Courtney Clay

[Lonnie Clay]

interpretation->

Having obtained some familiar memory association, the task now becomes what to do about the information. Is it necessary to pay attention to the information and pass it up the line, or can it be ignored? It is at this stage that a failure to find a memory reference will result in a higher state of awareness, focusing the mind upon a new or unusual experience, ratcheting upwards the priority of the sensed data. "Well THAT woke me up!" comes into play.

associative reasoning->

Having gained the mind's attention, the next stage is the question of what to do or how to react, and furthermore how sharply the memory should recall the situation for later reference. At this point intellectual focus comes into play. The mind begins to wonder "What's going on?" Data is sifted for implications and relevant experiences cascade through the mind, permitting further strategic allocation of attention. In highly stimulative environments, the question becomes what is *most important* rather than what is *loudest* as data clamors for priority. Successful reactions to previously encountered circumstances or situations are arrayed within the mind.

insight and inspiration->

With a bundled state of the situation at hand, the mind proceeds to sort through strategic techniques which have been successful in past situations, including those which are not especially similar to the current one, but which are methods of problem solving found useful in the past. The fully integrated state of the body and an understanding of environmental interactions and bodily capabilities yield insights and provide inspiration. "Aha NOW I understand" comes into play.

abstract reasoning->

Having evaluated data and finally understood what is going on, the mind must decide just what to do about it. Now the realm of reasoning finally is engaged. The mind is no longer just reacting but might be able to make intuitive leaps at this point. Innovative responses are developed, or the old tried and true solutions might be used, depending upon the situation.

judgement->

Now we are up to near human status at last! An invention of the latest in brain design is judgement. Judgement processes abstractions into still more elevated realms of thought, especially in the area of *selection of alternatives*. An awareness with judgement moves beyond responding with "what is easiest", "what is best", or "what worked last time" into the territory of "what will increase my understanding." An awareness with judgement takes risks and values new information more than assured safety. The old saying of "curiousity killed the cat" comes into play. Risk takers discover new territory and expand their ecological niches.

conclusions and goals->back to top

The undisputed territory of humans is rationality, especially the ability to take data based upon experience and reason logically using it to deduce, infer, or extrapolate from that data. Drawing conclusions permits goal oriented behavior, moving beyond the familiar into anticipation - "what would happen IF." Foresight and hindsight permit humans to predict consequences and LEARN from past mistakes. Sadly it must be noted that logical reasoning, information evaluation, and the other tools of rationality are neglected in most schools in favor of rote memorization.

One more post after this part 4 and I will desist until prompted for MORE!

Lonnie Courtney Clay

[Lonnie Clay]

Now let's move up the ladder of creation, noting the important innovations along the way.

At the most basic level are nonliving things. They come into existence, exchange energy and matter, and just sit there or react depending upon the environment.

Next up are the beginnings of life. They BREED! They process incoming energy and matter into duplicates of themselves, moving within the environment to acquire better environmental circumstances.

Then comes evolution. The breeding lifeforms ADAPT to environment to modify their own designs so that better survival prospects are attained.

Then comes thinking. Adaptive organisms PROCESS incoming sensory data to react depending upon circumstances rather than aimlessly wandering through the environment trying to get lucky.

Then comes work. Organisms capable of processing data MANIPULATE their surrounding environment to CAUSE survival and breeding prospects to increase.

Then comes learning. Organisms LEARN how to better manipulate their environment as they expand their ecological niche into new territory, not depending any longer on the old stimulus organism response model as modified by chance circumstances.

Then comes practice. A learning organism hones its behavioral responses in PLANNED activities designed as preparation for when a situation threatening survival might occur.

Then comes REASON, when an organism is able to adapt its planning in response to changes in the environment which threaten its survival.

Then comes IMAGINATION, when an organism reasons beyond evidence from the known into the seemingly impossible.

Then comes ENTERTAINMENT, when an organism is so successful that survival is no longer a problem, and can divert resources for the purpose of making life FUN.

People who engage in sports are stuck at the planned activity practicing stage.

People who play games are stuck at the stage of reasoning, exercising their minds.

People who read and write fiction are exercising their imaginations.

People who are like me just do whatever we please, mostly LYING to challenge the sober, logical, work oriented drones of society, causing them to examine their assumptions regarding the purpose of life.

William Shakespeare "All the world's a stage."

Let's have some FUN!

Lonnie Courtney Clay

[einseele]

If DNA can write such a document like a living being, then it can
write everything, dont you think

We humans are able now certainly to write to the DNA, you can read it
all the time and each day is a new world with that,
To me, to reach the point where the science took the DNA as a "written
code" is the most important step in human knowledge of all times.
Nature writes and read, this is central I believe

I have no doubt that in the near future science will be able to go a
step further, like using the DNA as the abc tool for other purposes,
not only write TO the DNA, but to write WITH the DNA.
Energy, food, environment, and other critical Armageddons would be at
least postponed for a good millennium ahead

I like to think that, there is the mission of not to surrender to the
melancholy all around

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