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76 - 83 Information theory
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The strongest form of scientific argument is the application of natural laws in such a manner as to exclude a process or occurrence.
The natural laws of information and their consequences (1):
All living beings contain an absolutely unimaginable amount of information. The conceptual system evolution could only function if information could be produced in matter by chance processes. This information is absolutely necessary, since all blueprints of all individuals and all complex processes in living cells (e.g., protein synthesis) are controlled by information.
The following eight theses present arguments based on the natural laws of information. These natural laws are derived from observation. They exclude the possibility that any information including biological information could possibly have originated from matter and energy without the agency of an intelligent originator. They demand a conscious creator with a will and the ability to bring forth the biological information.
What is a natural law?
The term natural law is used when the general validity of stated principles concerning the observable world can repeatedly and reproducibly be confirmed. In science, natural laws are the principles that enjoy the highest level of trust.
Natural laws
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have no exceptions.
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do not change over time.
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exist independently of their discovery and formulation by humans.
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can always be successfully applied to as yet unknown cases.
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provide an answer to the question of whether or not a conceived process is possible at all.
This is a particularly important application of natural laws.
The laws normally categorized as natural laws are the laws of physics and chemistry. However, our world also contains non-material entities such as information, will, and consciousness. Persons who hold the opinion that the world can be described in terms of material values only are limiting their scope of awareness.
Using the concept presented here, an attempt will be made for the first time to formulate natural laws for non-material values as well. Since these laws fulfil the same stringent criteria as the natural laws for material values, the conclusions drawn from them are equally informative and valid.
What is information?
Information is information, not matter nor energy, is a frequently cited statement made by American mathematician Norbert Wiener. His statement contains a very important element: information is not a material entity.
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Imagine the smooth surface of a sandy beach into which I write sentences with my finger. The information content of the sentences can be understood. Then I delete the information by brushing the sand flat again with my hand. Then I write different sentences in the sand, using the same material to present the information as before. Deleting and rewriting the sentences has at no time changed the mass of the sand, although different information has been presented at different times. Thus the information itself has no mass. We could have made the same considerations using the storage medium of a computer.
Writing in sand. |
We therefore conclude information is not a property of matter.
Norbert Wiener told us what information is not. So what is it really? Because information is a non-material entity, its origin cannot be explained on the basis of material processes. What is the initiating factor that results in information existing at all? What moves us to write a letter, a postcard, congratulations, a diary or a file memo? The most important precondition is our own will or the will of the agency directing us. Information is always based on the will of the sender of the information. It is no constant; it can intentionally be expanded, or deformed and destroyed by disturbing influences.
We therefore conclude that information can result only from an act of will or intention.
The natural laws of information:
In order to describe the natural laws of information, a suitable and precise definition is required that will enable us to decide reliably whether an unknown system falls within it or not.
The following definition allows a just allocation: Information is always present if the following five hierarchic levels occur in an observable system: statistics, syntax, semantics, pragmatics, and apobetics.
Statistics (characters): There must be characters for material representation (e.g., letters, magnetizations on a hard disc, DNA base pairs, or sonic spectrum) that can be recorded in the form of statistics. Which individual letters (e.g., a, b, c
z or G, C, A and T) are used? What is the frequency of occurrence of certain letters and words? Claude Elwood Shannon, mathematician and founder of information theory, developed a concept based on this lowest level alone (2) (3).
Syntax (code): The characters are ordered according to certain syntactic rules in a grammar. This second level involves only the character systems themselves (code) and the rules governing how the signs and sign sequences are juxtaposed (grammar, vocabulary), whereby this occurs independently of any interpretation.
Semantics (meaning): Character sequences and syntactic rules are the necessary precondition for presentation of information. However, the decisive aspect of a piece of information to be transmitted is its semantics, the message, the statement, the meaning, and the significance. For example, GGA in the code system for living cells represents a glycine molecule.
Pragmatics (will): Information demands action. It is of no consequence here whether the recipient of the information does what the information sender intends, reacts by doing the opposite or does not respond at all. Each case of information transmission is coupled with the intention of the sender to initiate a certain action.
Apobetics (goal): The last and highest level of information is apobetics (purposive aspect, goal aspect). The apobetic aspect of information is most important of all, since it asks about the intention of the sender. Any intelligent information intends something, i.e., pursues a purpose.
References:
(1) Werner Gitt, Am Anfang war die Information, 3. überarbeitete und erweiterte Auflage 2002, Hänssler-Verlag, Holzgerlingen.
(2) Ref. (1), pages 294311.
(3) Claude E. Shannon, A mathematical theory of communication, Bell System Technical Journal 27, July and October 1948, pages 379423 and 623656.
Four natural laws about information (NLI):
NLI-1: A material variable can not produce a non-material variable:
As a matter of general experience, apple tress produce apples, pear trees produce pears and a thistle produces thistle seeds. By the same token, horses bear foals, cows bear calves and women beget human children. In the same way, we observe that a material variable never produces anything non-material. (The term non-material is used here instead of immaterial to emphasize the difference from material.)
NLI-2: Information is a non-material fundamental variable:
The reality in which we live can be separated into two fundamentally different divisions, namely the material world and the non-material world. Matter possesses mass that can be weighed within a gravitational field. By contrast, all non-material variables (e.g., information, consciousness, intelligence, will) have no mass. It must be remembered, however, that matter and energy are required to store and transmit information.
NLI-3: Information cannot be produced in statistical processes:
Statistical processes are purely physical or chemical processes that run their course without the influence of a guiding intelligence. No information that meets our definition can be produced in such processes.
NLI-4: Information can only be produced by an intelligent sender:
In contrast to a mechanical sender, an intelligent sender possesses consciousness. It has a will of its own, is creative, thinks independently and acts in a goal-oriented manner.
A number of special natural laws can be derived from general natural law NLI-4:
- NLI-4a: Every code is based on a mutual agreement between sender and receiver.
- NLI-4b: There can be no new information without an intelligent sender.
- NLI-4c: Every information transmission chain can be traced back to an intelligent sender.
- NLI-4d: The assignment of meaning to a set of symbols is a mental process requiring intelligence.
Three remarks of essential importance:
- R1: Technical and biological machines can store, transmit, decode and translate information without understanding the meaning itself. Such cases are covered by NLI-4.
- R2: Information is the non-material basis for all technological and all biological systems.
- R3: A material carrier is required to store information.
The following eight conclusions are drawn with the help of the natural laws of information (NLI).
Eight far-ranging conclusions:
The natural laws NLI-1 to NLI-4 are based on experience. Now we can apply them well-directed and efficiently. This will lead us to eight conclusions answering basic questions.
Since these questions go beyond the limits of scientific actions and thought processes, we require a higher source of information before we can go beyond these limits. This higher source of information is the Bible. In the following texts we will first formulate the conclusion briefly, then explain its reason applying the natural laws of information, then finally provide the Biblical reference confirming the conclusion or even going beyond it.
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| 76 |
Intelligent information
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The code found in all forms of life allows only one conclusion: that there is an intelligent originator / sender of this information.
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The omniscient sender
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The concept according to which DNA molecules are encoded far exceeds the capacity of any human information technology and therefore cannot possibly have originated by chance from inanimate matter.
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The powerful sender
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The knowledge necessary e.g. to program DNA molecules is not sufficient to create life because it would also require the ability to build all of the necessary biological machines.
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The non-material sender
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Because meaningful information is essentially a non-material dimension, it cannot have been derived from a material dimension.
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Rebuttal of materialism
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Human beings are capable of engendering meaningful information, which is of a non-material nature and therefore cannot have originated from the material part of our body.
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Rebuttal of the big bang theory
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The claim that the universe emerged from a singularity (scientific materialism) contradicts the non-material dimension of information.
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Abiogenesis and macroevolution
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Since all theories of chemical and biological evolution require that the information originate solely from matter and energy, we may conclude that all of these concepts are false.
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Old and new proofs of the existence of God
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Proofs of God's existence can be derived from the natural laws of information in the universe and from the prophetic informations in the Bible.
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