From newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!PLai Tue Nov 24 10:52:41 EST 1992
Article 7700 of comp.ai.philosophy:
Xref: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca talk.origins:7923 comp.ai.philosophy:7700
Path: newshub.ccs.yorku.ca!torn!cs.utexas.edu!uunet!portal!cup.portal.com!PLai
>From: PLai@cup.portal.com (Patrick L Faith)
Newsgroups: talk.origins,comp.ai.philosophy
Subject: Re: Life is Information
Message-ID: <69941@cup.portal.com>
Date: Fri, 20 Nov 92 22:30:39 PST
Organization: The Portal System (TM)
Distribution: world
References: <1992Nov15.013839.9458@u.washington.edu>
  <1992Nov16.070141.2723@wixer.cactus.org>
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> [life as information]

I agree basically, with the caveat that life is the
ability to block and transform information - which 
blocking and transfering must be balanced.  A rock
between two people can block information but not
transfer much - therefore is a high level life form.

A computer can block some information going between
people and transfer other pieces of information - but
its ability to make realtime decisions of what to block
and transfer is very limited - therefore a computer is
a very low level life form.

Some humans have the ability to block and transfer fairly
large levels of information.  Other humans have the very
little information processing abilities.  Under this kind
approach some people are at different levels of living - and
the catagorization of life forms is based more on computational
ability and aproach, rather than the format of which the computation
is taking place (i.e. a computer that has a better understanding of
all aspects of this planet may be considered more alive than a human
that only lives by stereotypes and ignorance).

PLai


