Toward an Information-First View of Reality

On a classic episode of ID the Future from the vault, host Dr. John West continues his conversation with Dr. Bill Dembski as they discuss Dr. Dembski's 2014 book Being as Communion: A Metaphysics of Information. Listen in as Dr. Dembski explains 3 central points at the heart of his book: the Tang problem, the problem of no, and transposition. Tang?! What does a breakfast drink have to do with information theory? Tune in to find out!

[@bobdalton2062]

This was well done and nicely concise I appreciate this shorter format , better than some of the hour long ones.

[@anthonycarbone3826]

Saying no seems to mean placing constraints into the action or plan. Every piece of information has constraints embedded within the information to give it meaning. Eg. To write; a set of characters are used that are embedded within that language and can not include characters that are not accepted within that set. Nobody uses Chinese, Japanese, Russian and English characters and really expects anyone to understand or simply nobody has a clue about what is being communicated. Think of constraints as being rules being followed to create the intended outcome. Whether that be math, English, physics, or chemistry ...etc.

[@Vernon-Chitlen]

John 1:1-3 In the beginning was the Word, and the Word was with God, and the Word was God (2) He was in the beginning with God. (3) All things were made through Him, and without Him nothing was made that was made Words are information, information is invisible, non material and without mass. We know it exists because of it's influence on matter and energy.If anything can be eternal it would be Information. We know mass and energy had a beginning. Jesus is the eternal Word.

[@zyxzevn]

I learned from Dr. Stephanie Seneff that Deuterium is separated from Hydrogen to make mitochondria work.
Deuterium is heavier and "poisons" the electrical processes.
Just another very difficult thing that is necessary for life to work.

[@martyfromnebraska1045]

This reminds me of Aristotelian metaphysics. Just replace "form" with "information" and "matter" with "embodiment."

[@ianb483]

I was thinking the exact same thing. I think Dr. Dembski considers his metaphysic to be a variant of idealism, but in content it sounds extremely close to Thomism.
He points out correctly that matter has no properties - no actuality as Aristotelians would put it - apart from the information (or form) that makes a material object what it is. This is very close to the Aristotelian-Thomistic view that matter in and of itself is nothing more than potentiality to take on different forms, or what Aristotelians call prime matter.
And if what makes an object what it is and not something else is its form for information, then it follows that understanding anything we see in nature is a matter of grasping and understanding its form in our own intellects. And of course "form" is the root word of "information" for exactly that reason. To become *informed* about something is to grasp its *form* - that which makes it what it is and not something else - *in* your mind. This is all Aristotelian-Thomism.
In his Tang Problem analogy he's pointing out that a whole often cannot be accounted for in terms of the mere aggregate activity or powers of its constituent parts, but often has objectively real irreducible powers of its own that are lost if you try to take it apart and analyze it in terms of the properties of its parts. This also is essentially identical to what Aristotelian-Thomists refer to as substances and substantial form.
One thing I think Dr. Dembski is bringing to the Aristotelian table that is new is the realization, taken from Shannon information theory, that form involves negation, which allows it to be quantified and measured in some sense - or at least to have a quantitative lower bound placed on it, as each possibility that is negated by the instantiation of a particular form can be measured as a single bit.

[@joelebert9767]

I wonder if this is the reality behind quantum physics. Reality is information at the very bottom. When you look really closely, physical objects (particles) dissolve into questions, or uncertainties, expressed in probabilities. On larger scales, they resolve into physical objects (the answers to the questions, more specificity, less uncertainty, etc.).

[@rubiks6]

"Intelligent Design" is not the full reality. It is a pale shadow of that reality. Unless you come to know the Intelligent *_Designer,_* you fall far short of reality.
Jesus Christ is the Intelligent Designer.

[@joelebert9767]

He actually mentioned Jesus and quoted the Bible in the discussion!