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THE TEST OF TRUTH

But is science always so different? Few people, even with college degrees, are in a position to evaluate the intricacies of particle physics or cosmology. We accept them on faith, stories told by high priests and priestesses. We are provided with the warranty that the speculations are grounded in observation . . . But the relationship between the observable world and the theories we build is subtle . . . In practice, we are more likely to add filigrees to our models than to see them overturned.

—-George Johnson

      Fire In The Mind

CONVERGENT TRENDS  IN ENFORMATION

The Enformationism thesis grew out of several convergent trends in Science that began to emerge around the beginning of the 20th century, and reached adolescent maturity at the verge of the 21st century. As our understanding of Nature broadened, and deepened, new questions about old assumptions were raised. New branches and twigs of science spun-off to deal with these novel challenges.

● Physics : The counterintuitive paradoxes of Quantum Theory made it necessary for physicists to incorporate Philosophical techniques into their search for the roots of Reality: Ontology, Materialism, Cosmology.

● Internet : A worldwide explosion of communication channels caused engineers to define Information in a practical and technical sense : Shannon Theory.

● Computers : The advent of artificial thinking machines  and related technologies required new ways of conceptualizing information as digital atoms.

● Cultural Systems : Population explosion; sociological, cultural, political, systems; globalization. Diverse worldviews are forced to compete, cooperate, and merge.

● Memetics : Cultural Evolution is the offspring of Natural Evolution; Memes analogous to Genes as forms of information.

● Group Minds : Global Mind; Swarm Minds; Mega-corporations; Complex machines and business organizations; Memetic Management; Mind of the Market.

● Complexity : Systems Theory, Holism, Chaos & Complexity theory; Cybernetics; Statistical Analysis.

● Biology : DNA; genetics; chemical information transfer.

● Energy : Entropy, thermodynamics; Entergy; Enformy.

● Neuroscience : mind/body, consciousness, neural nets.

NEURAL MAP

C o n t e n t s  continued :

Page     Title    ~ Topic     • Sub-Topic       [ Box Note ]

General Information . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

     References and Selected Readings

           •  Bibliography  2

           •  Bibliography  3

           •  Bibliography  4

                   [ Information Science vs Pseudoscience]

     Notes and Comments

     Links and External References

                  [ Metaphysics is Information ]

                  [ Stuff of Thought ]

     Appendices  

                   [Energy is In-Form-Action]

           •  Intelligent Evolution Essay

           •  Intelligent Evolution Glossary

           •  The God Hypothesis

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E n d   o f   C o n t e n t s

PHYSICAL INFORMATION

Some followers of the information physics being pursued in Los Alamos, Santa Fe, and elsewhere suggest  a way of bridging the divide: the laws of the universe are not ethereal, they say, but physical–-made from this stuff called information.

—-George Johnson

      Fire in the Mind