TPF : Human Nature 2

[Gnomon]

If I say intellect comes from matter, it's like saying steam comes from water. It's limited to phenomena which we know. When you say that the world is information, you are saying it's less than material and given to us by a higher intellect. My position seems much simpler than yours, if I am understanding you correctly. — Gregory

How does "intellect come from matter"? Do you know what process or "force" could cause inert matter to evolve into a living thinking being? Based on Information Theory and Quantum Theory, I suggest that mind did indeed emerge from material substrates, and I propose a "mechanism" for that Phase Transition. But I don't think that mental noumena could emerge from mindless matter (phenomena), unless that matter had been enformed with the potential for mind. Since I'm neither a scientist nor an academic philosopher though, you don't have to take my word for it. You can investigate the thesis, and judge for yourself whether it sounds plausible that Enformation is a causal process & force in the real world. And "It's limited to phenomena which we know".

To say that Information is "less than material" is a negative comparison of two different categories of reality. It's like saying that your mind is "less than" a pile of sand. You might better understand the concept underlying Enformationism, if you would compare Information with Energy instead of Matter. The analogy I prefer is to say that Matter is the "clay", and Information is the "Sculptor", who transforms the amorphous mud into a meaningful image. Did that 3 dimensional form originate from the clay or from ideas (information) in the mind of the enformer (sculptor)? Michaelangelo famously quipped, "I saw the angel in the marble and carved until I set him free". Did he really "see" the angel in the rock, or in his imagination (information)?

You seem to be confusing the "phenomena we know" (objective matter) with the subjective knowledge of that stuff in the mind. When I say that the mundane information in real world minds originated in a Mind that is literally out-of-this-world, what do you imagine I'm referring to : 5th dimensional aliens, the infinite Multiverse, or the Jehovah of Genesis? Actually, none of the above. But you'd have to investigate the whole thesis, not just a few words in a post, in order to see what I'm saying. Til then, you don't "understand me correctly".

Causal Information : Energy is the relationship between information regimes. That is, energy is manifested, at any level, between structures, processes and systems of information in all of its forms, and all entities in this universe is composed of information
https://physics.stackexchange.com/quest ... in-physics

Introduction to Enformationism : http://bothandblog6.enformationism.info/page80.html

Abstract concept (information)
transformed into concrete object
http://www.gobronze.org/images/claypaul.jpg

[Gnomon]

I prefer a conception like human ecology to the essentialist shibboleth "human nature". — 180 Proof

I understand where you are coming from. It's that prejudice (us versus them) against Essentialism, that I have to try repeatedly to overcome in my references to the philosophical thesis of Enformationism. A key concept of that theory is that Energy ("essence of life") is a form of Enformation. Unfortunately, it's difficult for those who reject religion to overcome their negative attitude toward Essentialism, which they equate with Spiritualism. Ironically, the term "essential" is commonly used by atheist scientists in reference to the mundane phenomenon of Energy. So, the notion of Essence is not really outmoded or unimportant.

Shibboleth : a custom, principle, or belief distinguishing a particular class or group of people, especially a long-standing one regarded as outmoded or no longer important.
___Oxford Dictionary
Note -- in this case, it's not Racism, but Materialism

What is essential for all living organisms? : All living organisms need energy to grow and reproduce, maintain their structures, and respond to their environments; metabolism is the set of the processes that makes energy available for cellular processes.
https://courses.lumenlearning.com/bound ... etabolism/

[Gnomon]

I've read a lot of your links but I'm not getting the information stuff. Information is "facts in the mind" by definition. — Gregory

Perhaps you are reading the wrong links. Your definition was the traditional usage of the term "information", up until Shannon's Digital Information Theory abstracted away the personal meaning of those facts, and til Quantum Theory began to show that physical objects, such as your billiard table, are ultimately "fields" of mathematical Information, which we perceive as material things. Unfortunately, Shannon defined "information" in terms of Entropy, which is the negative "force" that breaks-down whole organisms into useless inert pieces of dead matter. But other scientists have shown that Information is also equivalent to Energy, which builds-up living organic matter. And Human Nature may be the current pinnacle of the evolutionary process of En-form-action.

In order to counter Shannon's devaluation of Information, I have linked to many other expert opinions, which reveal the "many faces of Information". So, the bottom line of my thesis is that everything and every thought in this world is merely one of the multiple forms of the universal "power to enform". This notion of Information is counter-intuitive like Quantum Theory, but scientists are gradually becoming accustomed to the idea that Reality is not what we see. FWIW, here are some more links to dispel your bewilderment.

Information, What Is It? : But perhaps the most fundamental enigma is the ultimate “nature” of Information itself. The original usage of the term was primarily Functional, as the content of memory & meaning. Then Shannon turned his attention to the Physical aspects of data transmission. Now, Deacon has returned to the most puzzling aspect of mental function : Intentions & Actions.
http://bothandblog4.enformationism.info/page26.html

Information Realism : Kastrup then describes how reductive methods failed to find the definitive atom, and instead discovered only amorphous fields. “At the bottom of the chain of physical reduction there are only elusive, phantasmal entities we label as “energy” and “fields”—abstract conceptual tools for describing nature, which themselves seem to lack any real, concrete essence.” This is the conceptual conundrum that launched my own investigation into “the mental nature of reality”, which I call Enformationism.
http://bothandblog4.enformationism.info/page18.html

The basis of the universe may not be energy or matter but information :
https://bigthink.com/philip-perry/the-b ... nformation

Reality Is Not What We Can See :
"What is the world made of?" — what philosophers would call ontology. In Newton's time, it was space, time and particles. After quantum physics and Einstein, it is spacetime and quantum fields. This is where the tension lies — and where we go to the edge of what we know, without any certainty of what comes next.
https://www.npr.org/sections/13.7/2017/ ... we-can-see

The many faces of Information :
Shannon info = Quantified; a verb; what it does; gain vs loss; energy.
Boltzmann info = Random-ized, absent, what was lost; entropy.
Deacon info = Referential; statistical; pointing to an absent future state.
Colloquial info = Predicate; a noun: what it's about; the meaning; what is gained; the referent.
Teleodynamic info = Semiotic; symbols; words that point to absent things; indicating Potential.