Philosophical musings on Quanta & Qualia;  Materialism & Spiritualism; Science & Religion; Pragmatism & Idealism, etc.

   Post 114.  February 16, 2021

  Introduction to Enformationism

   Stages of Enforming Evolution

   Step one in the cycle of evolution is what I call the En-Form-Action (EFA) stage. EFA can be imagined as raw, unprocessed, absolute, formless, primal, proto-energy. In physics, energy is defined as “the ability to do work”, whereas EFA can be further defined as the “potential for change”, and the “power to give form to the formless”. Keep in mind that Potential is not a physical "thing"; it is more like a principle or a definition — or a law. In other words, knowledge or values about something, rather than a thing in itself. Such information is typically expressed in mathematics as a ratio (the root of rationality), and the arithmetic symbol is "/ " or "÷" or "%", where the dots and spaces are variable values, and the bar signifies an implicit connection. In language, the abstract ratio is expressed as a more concrete relationship (a comparison). The logical symbol for a meaningful relationship is " x:y ", where the variables are compared to each other in the form (A:B::B:C), meaning A is to B as B is to C. In all such cases the overall meaning or “mind-value” is in the ratio or relationship, not in the things themselves. Hence, numerical information about physical things is more elemental than the energy or matter they are made of.

 Step two is the Active Energy phase of the cosmic process. Metaphorically, that original universal Potential (EFA) was bottled-up in the Singularity that gave birth to the Big Bang. During the so-called “inflationary” phase, the substance of the universe was not yet organized into the energy and matter we are now familiar with. As time went by though, that dark formless fog of potential energy was en-formed by the mathematical laws of physics, and trans-formed first into Light Energy. Visible light is a common form of electro-magnetic energy, but EME is also manifested in many other forms. For example, the Cosmic Microwave Background Radiation recently discovered by astronomers is considered to be a remnant of that first burst of light after the Big Bang. EM energy is organized into a pattern of wavelengths that perform specific kinds of change, and it ranges from nuclear forces, to electro-magnetism, to gravity14. All of these manifestations of information /energy are able to create or change the form of matter.

  Step three is the Materialization phase of the birth of the universe. As some cosmologists have described it, after the Big Bang an inflationary “cloud” of pent-up creative energy expanded rapidly, and cooled down to a point where the pre-dawn cosmic “fog” began to condense into tangible bits of Matter. As various wavelengths of energy interacted among themselves, tiny drops of sub-atomic matter precipitated out of the “cloud” of proto-energy. Some physicists envision these first inklings of matter as intersecting wave crests of energy vibrations. One way to think of materialization is to envision complex interactions of electromagnetic wave crests and troughs that either cancel or enhance each other, turning potential energy into actual matter. That description is only a metaphor for something science hasn’t yet pinned down. In any case, physicists have concluded that matter is basically a solid form of intangible energy. Mass-energy equivalence was proposed by Albert Einstein in 1905 (E = MC²). Mass-Energy-Information equivalence is the subject of this thesis.15

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Integrated Information Theory

   A late stage in the evo-lution of Generic Information was the mysterious emer-gence of Consciousness from insentient material. An explanation of how such a physical-to-mental phase transition could happen, without divine intervention, is still beyond the compass of modern materialistic Physics.
   To date, the best answer to the “hard problem” (how does stuff become conscious?) may be Integrated Inform-ation Theory (IIT) conceived by neuroscientist Guilio Tononi. He measures the level of sentience of complex systems in terms of Phi, which is equivalent to Synergy or Holism.
  Phi can be a property of any entity, biological or non-biological. Hence, various degrees of potential sent-ience may exist everywhere in the universe. Which is why Tononi views the ancient notion of Panpsychism to be plausible. But in my own thesis, I reserve the term “Consciousness” for only self-aware beings, such as humans.
https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/cross-check/can-integrated-information-theory-explain-consciousness/

14. Gravity is Information :
    Yes, gravity is also a form of proto-energy (en-form-action), in the sense that it has the potential to cause change in matter. Gravity shapes space, which in turn gives form to matter.

15. Mass-Energy-Information Equivalence
Principle
    “Here we formulate a new principle of mass-energy-information equivalence proposing that a bit of information is not just physical, as already demonstrated, but it has a finite and quantifiable mass while it stores information.”
https://aip.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/1.5123794

Stages
of
Evolution

Enformationism

Website

GNOMON
Retired Architect & Amateur Philosopher

“A philosophical worldview  grounded on the 20th century discovery that Information, rather than Matter, is the fundamental substance of everything in the universe.”