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So DNA didn't store any information until a conscious human learned how to read it? It didn't. DNA is simply a complex structure, which, placed within another

So DNA didn't store any information until a conscious human learned how to read it? It didn't. DNA is simply a complex structure, which, placed within another complex structure (a cell, containing appropriate amino acids), creates further complex structures (proteins). Otherwise, how could consciousness have evolved in the first place? I don't know. However, I disagree that information needs to be an independent physical property for consciousness to evolve. The steelman [1] version of your view, I guess, would be that "information" is equivalent to "complexity". Certainly consciousness relies on complexity, but it's not equivalent. Hurricanes are very complex, but certainly not conscious. Some say that complex systems like waterfalls and hurricanes perform complex information processing, but I think this is wrong. There's a fundamental difference between a human processing information (say, a bronze age man reading about metallurgy from a wax tablet and using the knowledge to craft a sword) and the actions of DNA, or hurricanes, or waterfalls. [1] https://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Steel_man https://wiki.lesswrong.com/wiki/Steel_man

snowwrestler 11y ago
Information is a state--a given pattern of matter and energy--that is characterized by its statistical likelihood. There are a vast number of states that a few picograms of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorous can be in. There are far fewer states that can qualify as the DNA molecules that encode your particular genome. Therefore, your DNA encodes information. Now, no one called that "information" until we came along, but that doesn't mean it did not exist before humans. Gravity didn't have a name either until we came along. Physically, there is no difference at all between what humans do and what hurricanes and waterfalls do. All physical systems are governed by the same physical laws, i.e. quantum mechanics and general relativity. Information does not violate either one.

snowwrestler 11y ago

Information is a state--a given pattern of matter and energy--that is characterized by its statistical likelihood. There are a vast number of states that a few picograms of hydrogen, oxygen, nitrogen, carbon, and phosphorous can be in. There are far fewer states that can qualify as the DNA molecules that encode your particular genome. Therefore, your DNA encodes information. Now, no one called that "information" until we came along, but that doesn't mean it did not exist before humans. Gravity didn't have a name either until we came along. Physically, there is no difference at all between what humans do and what hurricanes and waterfalls do. All physical systems are governed by the same physical laws, i.e. quantum mechanics and general relativity. Information does not violate either one.