--- John W Burgeson <burgytwo@juno.com> wrote:
> Is there anyone who would assert, on any grounds,
> that X>Y or Y>Z? I
> think not. So this entity which was to be me and who
> now is me has
> clearly been gaining information over the past 71
> years.
Not on the basis of your analogy, but at least three
of my friends who I attended graduate school with were
absolute CERTAIN that we were losing information
content due to the process. :))
> Look at the entity which was me on Dec 19, 1937. The
> teacher has just
> explained to me how math works -- for the first time
> I understand WHY 4+3
> must equal 7 and can use that understanding to do
> all sorts of wondrous
> things. Any measure of me before the explanation is
> given must show an
> informational content less than afterwards. I GAINED
> informational
> content.
True, but you have also lost a lot of informational
content, too.
> So did the universe. Clearly the teacher lost none
> by her action. So in
> this one instance, at least, we see the entropy (or
> other informational
> measure) of the universe "going the wrong way."
In fact, the only loss was the choice of what
information content to expand.
The other question too though is, assuming that
someone in the universe already knew 4+3=7, did the
universe gain anything? If numbers are platonic
ideals, or in the mind of God, does a creature being
aware of them add at all to their reality?
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