At the beginning of this young community, I thought it might be helpful to make a clear distinction between the definitions as they differ greatly in their explainability. Contrary to some opinions that can be heared, the statements a) there are one/more divine beings and b) no divine beings exist are logically equivalent.
Regarding the Quantum information interpretation he states:
"Even the smallest living things develop behaviors, sensing information about and reacting to their environment, "
This is absolutely true, even the most primitive living organisms have intelligence and a limited consciousness of their surroundings to interact with it.
But it goes further than that, because the same is true for atoms. The reason we can have intelligence in life, is that there is intelligence in Atoms. Atoms connect to molecules, based on which atoms they “prefer” to connect to, based on which connections create the more sustainable molecule.
I don’t think this is a very well known understanding, although it is IMO obviously true.
Nice take. The question really is: Where does it all end? And what does this say about “intelligence”? What is the fundamental concept of intelligence applying at the smallest scale of our universe? Could it be the drive to create information structures and order against entropy?
Yes we don’t know where it ends. But we do know that Atoms, electrons, neutron and protons, all have some pretty sophisticated behaviors. This continues into the quantum realm, where it seems even more complex. But I’m not well enough versed in quantum mechanics, to actually understand it at that level. And we can’t say for sure that quantum level is the final smallest level, it’s just the smallest we can detect.
Exactly. I can imagine that there is a fundamental mechanism that works in contrary to the second law of thermodynamics using the expanding space of the universe to create information structures.
Yes, I’ve believed that for some time, it seems there is still matter popping into the universe. There are also virtual particles that interact with real particles. Although these are theoretical, it shows the need in quantum theory to explain how information is passed between particles. But I’m getting a bit into deep water now.
BTW, the meaning of the second law of thermodynamics, is often wildly exaggerated. It’s not actually a law, but a probability. Also the “law” is in regard to a closed system, and I’m not sure it has been proven that the universe is actually a completely closed system.