Information and the Mind of God
Information is a subject not often addressed in the scientific and theological literature, though it is on the increase. I have discussed this topic in both of my books and in many blog posts. I am redirecting my posts to address information, and I emphasize that the Mind of God is the ultimate Source of ALL information. Believers blessed by the indwelling of the Holy Spirit have access to information given by the Mind of God.
Information, language of science
I begin my posts on information with excerpts from the book by Hans Christian von Baeyer, entitled Information: The New Language of Science. Information is neither matter nor energy. It is an entity on its own that precedes both. It emanates from a mind, the ultimate Source being the Mind of God.
von Baeyer discusses the transmission of information by the human brain, a topic I have addressed extensively in my books and in several blog posts:
“Even the brain, which consists of a vast neural network of cells exchanging electrical and chemical signals, turns out to be a powerful processor of information coded [Italics added] for the most part in the form of off-on signals, zeroes and ones.”
Neural codes are instantiated within spike trains of action potentials, corresponding to von Baeyer’s “off-on signals, zeroes and ones.”
The Lord gives wisdom, knowledge, understanding
Specified information with meaning and purpose comes from the Mind of God through the indwelling Holy Spirit in repentant believers. In Proverbs 2:6 we see the reality of the transmission of wisdom, knowledge and understanding to faithful believers: For the Lord gives wisdom, from his mouth come knowledge and understanding.
In my books and blogs I have addressed the blessing that we have to hear directly from God through His Holy Spirit, a blessing restored by the grace and love of God through the sin sacrifice of His Son, Jesus Christ.
Minds of God and Man give form to information
What is information? How is it defined? von Baeyer addresses this question. Though it is often claimed that information can be generated by natural selection, it has been emphasized here and in my books that information can only come from a mind. From von Baeyer:
“Etymology offers a clue [to the definition]. ‘Information’, ‘deformation’, conformation’, ‘transformation’, and ‘reformation’ obviously derive from ‘formation’, which, in turn, comes from ‘form’. Information is therefore the infusion of form on some previously unformed entity, just as de-, con-, trans-, and re-formation refer to the undoing, copying, changing, and renewing of forms. Information refers to moulding or shaping a formless heap - imposing a form onto something.”
Our Creator God had infinite options by which to actualize information into all He created and sustains to this day. That He created our universe in three spatial and a single time dimension is evidence that He imposed form from the possibilities so that we see and can live successfully on Earth in our space-time. As I expand on these points it is my hope that information will become a reality that gives glory to the Mind of God.
Information rules out possibilities
In my books and several blog posts I have referred to the work of William A. Dembski, specifically to his book Being as Communion: A Metaphysics of Information. I complement my last blog with selected comments by Dembski in Chapter 3, “Information as Ruling Out Possibilities”:
“In everyday life, information is associated with intelligent agents who form statements to convey meaning. Accordingly, intelligent agents convey information to other intelligent agents by making meaningful statements within a system of language. Information, therefore, customarily presupposes intelligence, language, and semantics. . . . In general, information is about realizing possibilities by ruling out others. Unless possibilities are ruled out, no information can be conveyed. To say, ‘It’s raining or it’s not raining’ is uninformative precisely because this statement rules out no possibilities. On the other hand, to say, ‘It’s raining’ rules out the possibility ‘It’s not raining’ and therefore conveys information. . . . Writing in the context of human communication, Robert Stalnaker put it this way, ‘To learn something, to acquire information, is to rule out possibilities. To understand the information conveyed in a communication is to know what possibilities would be excluded by its truth.’”
I have shared with documentation in my books that the neural code is a linguistic code by which specified (meaningful) information is transmitted from a source of intelligence to and through the synaptic networks of a receptor’s brain.
Entropy and information
von Baeyer discusses entropy in the context of information in his book. He referenced Ludwig Boltzmann who “pointed out that . . . the value of entropy rises from zero, when we know all about a system, to its maximum value when we know least. . . . Entropy is . . . about our lack of information.”
God, who is the ultimate Source of all information, held the “maximum value” of informational entropy at the Beginning of creation when He had not yet specified how information would be instantiated into given creations. All possibilities existed in the Mind of God. As God specified how information would be selectively actualized, possibilities were ruled out, and aspects of given created systems became known with the value of entropy approaching, or becoming, zero.
As one reads this blog post one may understand better how information, as a topic, can escape one’s attention and comprehension. I have addressed entropy in the context of information here and in my books so that readers can come to an understanding of it, especially beholding God’s glory in His creation of our universe and all within it.
In my more recent blog posts I have discussed wave function and wave forms in the context of synaptic transmission. I refer the reader back to the three part series entitled “Waves in Our Brains.” von Baeyer discussed the wave function in Chapter 5 of his book, and I include a significant excerpt from it that deals ultimately with . . . information:
“If the wave function does not represent a faithful picture of an atom, what exactly is it? In different experiments one can measure the positions, the velocities, the energy levels, the magnetic effects and a variety of other properties of the electron. All these properties can be predicted from the wave function, which therefore acts as a succinct mathematical encoding of information resembling a map of potentiality - a catalogue of possibilities. If the wave function is nothing but a storehouse of information needed to make correct predictions, then the stuff of the world is really, at bottom, information.”
Wave function, definition
von Baeyer asks, “But what is the wave function? Its interpretation as a probability provides a clue. Probabilities . . . are shorthand expressions of partial knowledge - of information. Similarly, the wave function of an electron in an atom contains information about the likelihood of finding the electron in various places. It is a map of potentialities - a catalogue of possibilities. It is information, pure and simple; and its shape determines the form of the atom.”
I share this quote from von Baeyer since it is important to understand what a wave function is and how it differs from wave length and wave form. I have discussed wave forms as they apply to synaptic transmission through neural networks in some of my latest blog posts.
The quantum and human nature
von Baeyer discusses Anton Zeilinger’s work in quantum physics in the last chapter of his book. I share an excerpt from his book that will serve as the foundation for points I will make in subsequent blog posts that relate quantum mechanics and information:
Like John Wheeler he [Zeilinger] wants to know why the quantum? Like Schrodinger he wants the answer to speak to the broad public; and like Pauli he feels intuitively that the answer, when it comes, will turn out to illuminate human nature itself.”
The relationship between quantum mechanics and information rests in probabilities.
Information, the root of quantum mechanics
von Baeyer cites comments by Niels Bohr made to Anton Zeilinger concerning the “mediating role of information”:
“Its crucial, underlying assumption is Bohr’s proclamation that physics in general, and quantum mechanics in particular, do not describe the world itself, only what we are able to say about it. Bohr demands that we wake up from the spell of Democritus - the illusion that we can come to grips with the objective material world, without acknowledging, or even trying to understand, the mediating role of information. We never see a chair, Bohr would say: we receive sense impressions that give us information which our brains somehow process into the idea . . . of chair [via instantiated neural codes transmitted through synaptic networks and “read”/interpreted by the human mind, addressed in my books]. We don’t see, or detect, or measure an atom: we gather information about the atom and encode it in a mathematical construct called a wave function, which enables us to make predictions about information we may gather in future experiments. To leave information, from which we gain all of our knowledge of nature, out of consideration when discussing the nature of the physical world is a gross and outdated oversimplification. If, however, we accept that information, not matter, lies at the root of quantum mechanics, reductionism, that faithful, flawed handmaiden of science, requires us to ask: what are the fundamental building blocks of information? Zeilinger replies: propositions; Wheeler calls them answers to questions: and the simplest of those, in turn, is an elementary proposition, a yes-or-no question with an answer that’s called a ‘bit’ of information. It is impossible to imagine a simpler question than one that requires a yes-or-no answer.”
I am sharing complex descriptions of information and its relation to the quantum and ultimately to the human mind, as well as the Mind of God! We must understand the fundamental importance of information and how it relates to energy and matter. In upcoming blog posts this topic will be addressed.
God's free play through quantum probabilities
In my studies and writings I have relied significantly upon the work of William A. Dembski. I am sharing his comments that consider how God, who is immaterial and Spirit, interacts with the material world, including the human brain. Quantum mechanics gives nondeterminism to the universe which characterizes it as being informationally open and accommodating free will. Here is Dembski’s informative quote taken from my book, The Boundless Love of God: A Holy Spirit Story:
“. . . such [an open] universe will produce . . . patterns of events that stand out against the backdrop of randomness. . . . Such patterns [intended by God] could reasonably be interpreted as constituting novel information inputted from outside the system . . . in a nondeterministic universe, diving action could impart information into matter [e.g. a neural synaptic network] without violating any physical laws by which matter operates . . . A deity capable of co-opting randomness would impart information by arranging outcomes [with small probabilities and specification], but do so by channeling the material energy in ways that violate no principle governing matter. If divine action takes this form, the problem of finding the missing material energy by which God introduces novel information into the world simply does not arise. . . . information is then being transferred without any transfer of material energy. . . . Quantum mechanics . . . offers such a picture of the universe, allowing God free play at the quantum level. . . . In a world of irreducibly chance or random events [integral to the neural synapse], as some interpretations of quantum theory allow, [the Mind of] God can channel such events [and communications] toward preordained ends.”
Since the mind of Man is created in the image of the Mind of God, the postulate that Dembski shares reasonably applies to the immaterial mind of Man which can also channel communications of encoded information toward preordained ends with meaning and purpose.
Special divine action
I cite Alvin Plantinga in my second book who also addresses the openness of the universe to novel information. Here are my comments:
Plantinga states that classical science does not claim that the universe is causally closed. His statements are consistent with special divine action in the world. Just as God, who is immaterial and Spirit, can act in the physical universe, so too can the immaterial minds of human beings. There is no objection to special divine action or for human free action, dualistically conceived. Plantinga goes further to state that the indeterminism of quantum mechanics offers even less of a problem for divine action than classical science. “. . . special divine action . . . is by no means incompatible with quantum mechanics . . . because . . . quantum mechanics doesn’t determine a specific outcome for a given set of initial conditions, but instead merely assigns probabilities to the possible outcomes.” Plantinga states further, “Perhaps He is also very much a hands on God, constantly active in history, leading, guiding, persuading and redeeming His people, blessing them with ‘the internal Witness of the Holy Spirit’ (Calvin) or ‘the Internal instigation of the Holy Spirit’ (Acquinas) and conferring upon them the gift of faith.”
Information, the primal substance
I will now post selected excerpts from Dembski’s book, Being as Communion: A Metaphysics of Information, some of which I have included in my books and have made reference to in blogs. I strongly recommend this book to those who wish to understand the theory of communication. “For a thing to be real it must be able to communicate with other things. If this is so, then the problem of being receives a straightforward resolution: to be is to be in communion.” [Taken from the back cover piece] Dembski compellingly documents that “information in nature is ‘communion,’” and this extends to communion between the Mind of God and the mind of Man by the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit.
Intelligence creates information
“[Dembski’s] argument is that intelligence creates information, which in turn can manifest itself materially, and that intelligence is thus the preeminent first cause. This puts matter causally downstream from both intelligence and information, making it a subordinate and derivative concept. . . .Dembski not only takes information to be the fundamental substance, but also clearly believes . . . that this substance ultimately originates with a personal God who intentionally gives being to the world, ordering its material structure and guiding its inhabitants for a purpose.”
All possible worlds and information
I cite Dembski, who states, “As a Christian theist, I’m happy to regard the collection of all possible worlds as residing in the mind of God and then see God, in an act of creation, as actualizing one world, ours, to the exclusion of others. . . . Unlike materialism, which makes matter the starting point for inquiry, information makes the actual world and the possibilities associated with it the starting point. Information thus allows the world to be whatever it is. . . . We know that a world exists and that it realizes certain possibilities to the exclusion of others, thereby generating information.”
Intelligence vs nature
Dembski presents an interesting and informative discussion of intelligence as it relates to nature:
“In everyday experience, we distinguish between two sources of information: intelligence and nature. . . . an intelligence, to advance a purpose, may identify one possibility to the exclusion of others and thereby produce information. Alternatively, nature, as a system of causes and effects, may bring about some event to the exclusion of others, and thereby produce information. . . . a human intelligence, to advance a purpose, performs a conceptual act, identifying one possibility to the exclusion of others. Such an act requires thought and consciousness, and yet in humans makes use of neurophysiology [encoded spike trains of action potentials that transmit information through synaptic networks, as discussed in my books and specific blog posts], which in turn is part of nature. Human intelligence may therefore be regarded as natural even if it is not purely material. . . . According to information theorist Douglas Robertson, the defining characteristic of intelligent agents . . . is their ability to create and communicate information. That’s what intelligences do for a living. . . . it follows that if nature is itself the act of a creative intelligence, then nature is a form of information and nature’s operations may themselves be regarded as intelligent and teleological. Nature’s intelligence would in that case be a derived intelligence. . . . Because materialism gives primacy to matter, it downgrades the role of intelligence in nature, conceiving of nature in purely material terms, thus making intelligence a byproduct of material nature rather than its source and purpose. Materialism sees matter as fundamentally non-intelligent, and it thus needs to constitute intelligence out of matter.”
Nature, a created order
Dembski addresses God’s creations as teleological:
“. . . from the vantage of Christian theism, I . . . see nature as a created order endowed by its creator with certain powers, all of which may be regarded as teleological since they were intended by God. But Christianity goes further, holding to a supernatural deity, with God acting in ways that transcend nature’s inherent powers. . . . Christian theism therefore regards nature as inherently incomplete, finding its completion in God. . . . Christian theism is compatible with God delegating to nature many of its powers (cf. the medieval distinction between primary and secondary causes, secondary causes operating under their own power, instituted by the primary cause, God).”
Information, neither matter nor energy
Dembski cites cybernetics founder, Norbert Weiner, who “thought that information could not be subsumed under matter: ‘Information is information, not matter or energy. No materialism which does not admit this can survive at the present day.’”
Patterns of information
Dembski discusses the patterns of information that are problems for materialism:
“The problem for materialism and empiricism in reconstituting the world, whether in terms of elemental matter or elemental sensory experiences respectively, is ultimately informational. When we do science, we don’t encounter matter in its raw state nor do we encounter sensory experiences in their raw state. Rather, we encounter certain patterns to the exclusion of others [Dembski’s ‘small probabilities’ selected by an intelligent mind]. In other words, we encounter information. The material and sensory features associated with these patterns are secondary. Indeed, those very features are themselves patterned and thus informational. The patterns, or equivalently the types of information conveyed, are primary.”
Effected spoken word
“The expression ‘effected spoken word’ . . . means this: an agent, in forming an intention [a thought of a cognitive mind], accomplishes it by first articulating the intention as a word [for example, the linguistic neural code I have discussed in my books and in many blogs], then transmitting that word through a speech act [for example, the transmission of neural codes through synchronous synaptic networks], and finally ensuring that this spoken word achieves its desired effect [the action end point that completes the definition of information, as discussed by Werner Gitt]. . . . When the agent is God intent on creating a world, creation likewise becomes an effected spoken word. Compare Isaiah 55:11, God speaking, ‘So shall my word be that goeth forth out of my mouth: it shall not return unto me void, but it shall accomplish that which I please, and it shall prosper in the thing whereto I sent it.’” (William A. Dembski)
Primacy of information for science
Dr. Dembski challenges the long-held primacy of matter for science, with the claim that reduction to materialistic explanations have a hold on primacy. I am posting a quotation from Dembski:
“. . . information is, in the end, always the product of a creative intelligence. This would make intelligence rather than information the most basic metaphysical entity [the Mind of God], placing all-sufficiency with intelligence rather than information. Indeed, as a theist, I regard an intelligent being, God, as the prime reality. The issue here, however, is not the primacy of intelligence or teleology for metaphysics. The issue, rather, is the primacy of information for science. I am arguing that information should properly be regarded as the prime entity and object of study in science, displacing matter from its current position of eminence.”
Energy and information
We have read posts that deal with intelligence, information and matter, but what about energy? Dembski addresses the topic of energy in the following excerpts:
“Information changes dynamically, with information passing in, through, and out of matter. . . . Anything that exhibits information needed at some point to be imparted with information. What causes information to undergo such dynamic transformation? The usual answer to this question is stated in one word: energy. . . . energy is logically downstream from information in the sense that energy is always inferred from information, but not vice versa. . . . Energy . . . seems unavoidable in discussions about the dynamics of information. . . . When information happens - and it happens all the time - what causes it to happen? . . . energy is as good an answer as exists. This answer makes energy the causal glue that connects diverse items of information in an informational universe.”
Dembski specifically mentions an immaterial energy in this context, and I have addressed such energy in blog posts that discuss the role of wave forms in the transmission of linguistic neural codes through synaptic networks by the process of quantum tunneling.
Nonmaterial energy
I cite Dembski:
“More generally, in any inquiry, scientific or otherwise, if we are trying to understand an information transfer, the first thing we witness is an information relationship, and only then are we in a position to uncover how energy might have given rise to that relationship. Some form of energy must presumably be involved - we are supposing that information transfers require energy transfers (though not necessarily material energy transfers). Moreover, if the energy can’t be material, then it must be nonmaterial.”
Nondeterministic universe - informationally open
Dembski states that “a nondeterministic universe can be informationally porous and thus open to action by a deity able to impart information without imparting material energy. Quantum mechanics, when interpreted as a fundamentally probabilistic theory, offers such a picture of the universe, allowing God free play at the quantum level. . . . In a world of irreducibly chance or random events, as some interpretations of quantum theory allow, God can channel such events toward preordained ends.”
We have seen in my books and in selected blogs that synaptic transmission is stochastic, or random. It is a nondeterminism that allows the intent of a mind, including the Mind of God, to influence the direction and intensity of spike trains of action potentials through synchronous synaptic networks to bring about specific actions. Quantum mechanics provides the “trigger” mechanism for such action by the process of quantum tunneling, and it is wave forms with frequency, amplitude and shape that serve as the nonmaterial energy for specified information transmission, interacting with the material electrochemical energies along dendrites and axons in the nervous system.
Defining property of intelligence
Dembski addresses the property that gives definition to intelligence:
“The defining property of intelligence is its ability to create information. . . . The ability of intelligence to create information should be more obvious and convincing to us than any claim of the natural sciences. Why? Because (1) we ourselves are intelligent beings who create information all the time through our thoughts and language and (2) the natural sciences themselves are logically downstream from our ability to create information (if we were not information creators, we could not formulate scientific theories, much less search for those that are empirically adequate, in which case there would be no science). Materialist philosophy, however, has all this backwards, making a materialist science primary and then defining our intelligence out of existence because materialism leaves no room for it (except as unintended motions and modifications of matter). The saner course would be to leave no room for materialism.”
Creation of information
Dembski argues in Chapter 20, “The Creation of Information,” that “intelligence is the ultimate source of information, . . . I come at this question as a Christian for whom God, as creator, is the ultimate source of all there is, and thus of all the information in the world. My model for information creation, therefore, cannot be bottom up, as in trying to reconstitute information from material processes, but rather must be top down, as in trying to understand the creation of information from the vantage of a creative intelligence (in particular, the Christian God).”
Etymology of intelligent
Dembski provides an excellent etymology of “intelligent” in his book:
The word intelligent comes from the Latin [language]. It stems from two Latin words, the preposition inter, meaning between, and the Latin . . . verb lego, meaning to choose or select. . . . According to its Latin etymology, intelligence therefore consists in choosing between. In an act of information creation, an intelligence chooses which possibility within a matrix of possibility to actualize. In the ultimate act of information creation, a supreme intelligence chooses which world among all possible worlds to actualize. The world so chosen becomes the real world. . . . Thus, for me, a nonmaterial trinitarian God is the supreme intelligence and ultimate reality. Moreover, this God creates via speech acts. God speaks and things happen. Or, alternatively, God communicates information and new possibilities are actualized.”
Wave forms in our brains, revisited
In my books and a number of blog posts I have presented information that shows the possible role wave forms play in synaptic transmission. Their transmission involves quantum tunneling in ionic channel and synaptic vesicle components. The random/stochastic property of this transmission allows for the immaterial intent/will of an intelligence to generate specified information (with small probabilities) that is actualized with direction through the material components of synapses and their networks. It is a complex and fascinating process that is under investigation by neuroscientists who now have advanced technology to assist their studies.
There is increasing evidence that the “nonmaterial energy” discussed by Dembski and other authors whom I have quoted in my more recent blogs is expressed within the frequencies, amplitudes, shapes and phases of wave forms that are distinct from the material electrochemical energies of action potentials. This nonmaterial energy serves as the “causal glue” (to quote Dembski) between the specified information emanating from a mind and the linguistic codes instantiated within the material spike trains of action potentials that travel through neural synaptic networks to effect intended action. I have endeavored to present this information with documentation to give compelling support to the concept of dualist interaction between the immaterial mind, including the Mind of God, and the material components of the human brain.