IPI lecture - Daniel
Boyd, International Society for the Study of Information, Netherlands
Our next IPI Talk will be on Saturday, 30th
of November at 16.00 London time.
Title: Information/Physics
from the perspective of Emergent Information Theory
Abstract:
Throughout the history of humanity much attention
has been paid to the remarkable characteristics of the human mind or soul, how
these differ from those of the material world, and the relationship between the
two. Emergent Information Theory claims that this riddle, as formulated in
Chalmers’ Hard Problem, is far bigger; that it includes all biological and
technological systems with informational functions. It proposes a form of
naturalistic substance dualism in which these systems create a dimension outside
of the physical realm in which this substance exists and the strongly emergent
processes underlying these functions take place according to their own natural
laws. This information dimension is home to everything from lofty phenomenal
consciousness to the lowly binary value associated with a bit state. In this
talk I will present the rationale and evidence for this conclusion, and invite
my audience to engage in discussion about its strengths and weaknesses.
Author: Daniel Boyd
BIO: Daniel Boyd is an independent researcher living in the
Netherlands who has developed Emergent Information Theory as an approach to
understanding biological and technological information systems, and solving the
mind-body problem.
He is currently
a member of the Board of IS4SI (International Society for the Study of
Information). In his day job he works as Information manager for a care
institution for the elderly.
30th of November @ 16.00
London time. Online ZOOM lecture – a link will be emailed to the IPI members.