From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!ists!helios.physics.utoronto.ca!news-server.csri.toronto.edu!rpi!usc!wupost!darwin.sura.net!europa.asd.contel.com!uunet!tdatirv!sarima Thu Dec 26 23:57:40 EST 1991
Article 2323 of comp.ai.philosophy:
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>From: sarima@tdatirv.UUCP (Stanley Friesen)
Newsgroups: comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Scaled up slug brains
Message-ID: <347@tdatirv.UUCP>
Date: 19 Dec 91 19:51:06 GMT
References: <IdHqyqK00UhW01duAN@andrew.cmu.edu>
Reply-To: sarima@tdatirv.UUCP (Stanley Friesen)
Organization: Teradata Corp., Irvine
Lines: 23

In article <IdHqyqK00UhW01duAN@andrew.cmu.edu> fb0m+@andrew.cmu.edu (Franklin Boyle) writes:
|
|Since informational processes are also physical, could you elaborate on the
|differences implied here between "physical process" and "informational
|process"?

An informational process is only physical in the sense that it must have
a carrier.  The form of the carrier is irrelevant, only the structure
of the data.

For instance, the information in a pattern of magnetic domains on a thin
rotating platter is equivalent to the information in a pattern of glowing
spots on a phosphor covered pane of glass is equivalent to a similar
pattern of ink stains on a sheet of pressed wood fibers.  The physical
form *does* *not* *matter*, except in that it may facilitate manipulation by
different agents.

A 'physical process' is one in which the *form* or *conformation* of the
material is relevant.  A cake is a physical thing, and idea is not.
-- 
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uunet!tdatirv!sarima				(Stanley Friesen)



