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all of our knowledge of nature, out of consideration when discussing the nature of the physical world is a gross and outdated oversimplification.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.

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. Please read on.

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.

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.”

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.

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.

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.

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.”

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.

I close the blog posts taken from T. W. Hunt’s book with his discussion of the Kingdom of God within us:

“The individual with the kingdom within [indwelling] is blessed of God. The kingdom within blesses because it is the source of a deep and undisturbable happiness. The blessing has two main expressions.

“The first is peace. . . . the mind of Christ is an integrated mind, where every factor and facet work together instead of against each other. All parts of the mind are in harmony with one another. Because of that, outer conflict cannot penetrate the peace that makes up that harmony.

“This peace is both a gift and a discipline. The gift is the Holy Spirit’s blessing on the integrated mind. The discipline is that self-control that will not allow foreign thoughts to disquiet the processes of thought. . . . Peace is the birthright of the believer and the fruit of the Spirit.

“The second aspect of the blessing is joy. The highest joy that the redeemed individual can know is ‘the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ, and the love of God, and the fellowship of the Holy Spirit’ (2 Corinthians 13:14). Joy is also a gift and a discipline. This gift also is a fruit of the Spirit (Galatians 5:22). The discipline is abiding in Christ. After talking about abiding, He said, ‘These things I have spoken to you, that My joy may be in you, and that your joy may be made full’ (John 15:11). We are to abide in Him to have the joy.”

Yes, Satan can still tempt, as Hunt points out, but we can resist him with the power of the indwelling Holy Spirit manifested through our will, our choice. I highly recommend Hunt’s book, The Mind of Christ: The Transforming Power of Thinking His Thoughts.