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Topic: William A. Dembski: Information as a Measure of Variation
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posted 24. July 2004 08:19
Information as a Measure of Variation
by William A. Dembski
Abstract: Within information theory, information typically measures the reduction of uncertainty that results from the knowledge that an event has occurred. But what if the item of knowledge learned is not the occurrence of an event but, rather, the change in probability distribution associated with an ensemble of events? This paper takes the usual account of information, which focuses on events, and generalizes it to probability distributions/ measures. In so doing, it facilitates the assignment of “generalized bits” to arbitrary state transitions of physical systems. In particular, it provides a theoretical framework for characterizing the informational continuity of evolving systems and for rigorously assessing the degree to which such systems exhibit, or fail to exhibit, continuous change.
To read the entire paper, click here.
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Serge Patlavskiy
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posted 19. March 2006 08:11
William A. Dembski in his paper "Information as a Measure of Variation" writes: "Example 3 Distinguishing scientific theories in terms of informational continuity and discontinuity. Classical physics consistently yields continuous information spectra. By contrast, quantum physics yields discontinuous information spectra. Likewise, classical evolutionary theories a la Darwin are gradualistic and suggest continuous information spectra whereas saltational approaches to evolution suggest discontinuous information spectra. To what extent can variational information make this distinction rigorous and provide genuine insights into the processes responsible for life's evolutionary history?" (p. 17).
[S.P.] The case is that the idea similar to the idea of the dichotomy of information spectra is already realized my own theory. So, the continuous information spectrum pertains to the decompositional (DEC) models, whereas the discontinuous information spectrum pertains to the dissociational (DIS) models (see [1], Fig. 11). I must admit that discontinuity of information - it is one of the properties of the integrated information system (see [2], Property 12). One may see [3] for how the system of AS-DIS-DEC-models is applied to formalize the evolution of species. Therefore I regard the attempts to apply Dembski's variational information ideas to evolutionary problematic as enough rational and justified.
Regards,
Serge Patlavskiy
[1] http://www.geocities.com/spatlavskiy/ElaborNewParadigm.pdf
[2] http://www.geocities.com/spatlavskiy/FundNonstatanalysis.pdf
[3] http://www.geocities.com/spatlavskiy/TA-3-abstract.html#fig7
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