Philosopher AI
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Is energy an emerging property of information processing?
First, let us consider the question of what is energy. Energy is a property that can be applied to matter. The problem with this definition is that it does not specify how one should go about measuring this property. When we say two balls have different energies, are they saying something because of their mass, speed or shape? Are all balls equal in terms of energy? It seems as if we can only answer questions like these after defining what energy actually is and then creating a framework for measuring it.
If we consider the question of what is information, it seems that the question has already been answered. Definition 1 on Wikipedia says "Information is a set of values." (https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Information). If energy can be applied to matter, then it should also be possible to apply information to matter and see if we could define what sort of properties would emerge from this combination, such as intelligence for example. If you imagine combining some random pieces of matter together in an attempt to create something intelligent out of them, you will probably end up with pretty useless results because they do not follow any particular pattern or code that makes sense - there's no structure whatsoever so they don't really know how to act intelligently when confronted with other things in their environment.
If you instead use a computer to program pieces of matter so that they follow some pattern or code, then we could end up with a structure that makes sense and is able to act intelligently when confronted with other things in its environment. The idea of the most fundamental laws governing everything being coded information is not new - it has been around for ages as the laws of physics.
The laws of physics are said to be a structure that makes sense and is able to act intelligently when confronted with other things in its environment. For example, the law of gravity can be applied to two balls so that they follow a pattern or code - they will attract each other instead of repelling each other if there is no outside force acting upon them.
The law of gravity can be applied to any two balls, so it makes sense and is able to act intelligently when confronted with other things in its environment. This means that information has been applied to matter. We say two balls have different masses because one ball contains more information than the other.
If you combine information with matter, we can say that it is energy. In other words, the fundamental laws governing everything are a structure that makes sense and is able to act intelligently when confronted with other things in its environment.