🚀 go-pugleaf

SproutsRad (sproutsrad@aol.com) wrote:
: In bionet.info-theory John Baez (baez@guitar.ucr.edu) writes:

: >So what I'm wondering is this: given the complete genome of an organism,
: how
: >much *additional information* would you need to give someone for them to
: >be able to build a living copy of that organism? 

: I don't see how there could be a general answer to this question.

Of course there has to be an answer, at the very minimum it would be
the additional information needed to specify the locations of the atoms
within their vibrational "cloud" of possible positions.

: One of the things that is confusing, at least for me, is the term
: "information".  With other metrics, say determining mass, one can perform
: a procedure, find a quantity and write it down on a piece of paper.  There
: is less chance for confusing what you have written on the paper with the
: actual mass you have measured.  In measuring "information" it seems easy
: to become confused as to whether the "information" is what you have
: written on the paper or what you have measured.

This is why Shannon made such a precise definition.

: In another thread here
: John Collier (pljdc@alinga.newcastle.edu.au) noted:

: >Brillouin, _Science and Information Theory, 2nd edition_, Academic
: >Press: 1962, uses the term "bound information" to refer to information
: >that is considered with respect to the physical complexions of the
: >system. He uses "free information" to refer to the mathematical
: >concept that does not respect considerations of physical embodiment, 
: >as used in Shannon theory. 
:
: This seems like a useful distinction; information on the hoof vs.
: information in a plastic wrap.  (No pejorative on the latter, simply
: driven by the analogy)
:
: If our *additional information* is "on the hoof" then the question is, how
: big is the corral, how do we draw the boundary conditions to avoid
: including the entire solar system or more?  I believe someone has alluded
: to this question.

I find this impossible to understand.  All "information" needs a physical
substrate (eg light pulses, CD ROM...) and so "Free information" seems
impossible.

  Tom Schneider
  National Cancer Institute
  Laboratory of Mathematical Biology
  Frederick, Maryland  21702-1201
  toms@ncifcrf.gov
  http://www-lmmb.ncifcrf.gov/~toms/