Can you define information without referring to consciousness?

[bcrelling]

Any consciousness based approach to QM will be dismissed as woo in the main forum.

However it's admitted that (with refernece to the double slit experiment):

"To be clear, the rule for interference in these cases: if it is possible, in principle, to know which slit the particle goes through, there is NO interference and there will just be the 2 characteristic bands." -DrChinese

So my question is- can you define knowledge or information in a way which does not refer to consciousness?

 

[collinsmark]

So my question is- can you define knowledge or information in a way which does not refer to consciousness?

The transfer of knowledge or information, Yes.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shannon%E2%80%93Hartley_theorem

[Edit: on a point perhaps more relevant to your question, you might be more interested in quantum decoherence, which doesn't necessarily involve consciousness either. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quantum_decoherence]

 

[Danger]

Going strictly by the title of this thread, I expected it to be about the US Congress. This is disappointing.

 

[ImaLooser]

Any consciousness based approach to QM will be dismissed as woo in the main forum.

However it's admitted that (with refernece to the double slit experiment):

"To be clear, the rule for interference in these cases: if it is possible, in principle, to know which slit the particle goes through, there is NO interference and there will just be the 2 characteristic bands." -DrChinese

So my question is- can you define knowledge or information in a way which does not refer to consciousness?

Yes. Information theory is completely mathematical. But they aren't talking about meaning. I don't see any way to talk about knowledge or meaning without consciousness.

However I must say I never thought consciousness had anything to do with QM. Though I guess Neils Bohr thought so, and he is much smarter than I.

 

[Evo]

Any consciousness based approach to QM will be dismissed as woo in the main forum.

It's woo here too, the same rules apply throughout the forum.

Thread closed.