john_SPAM{at}wilkins.id.au (John Wilkins) wrote in
news:c9fpqi$19f3$1{at}darwin.ediacara.org: 

> William Morse  wrote:
> 
>> john_SPAM{at}wilkins.id.au (John Wilkins) wrote in
>> news:c912oh$2n2u$1{at}darwin.ediacara.org: 
>> 
>> > All data storage in the real world is analogue. The only difference
>> > between analogue and digital is the fidelty of replication. I think
>> > that any evolutionary process is going to maximise the fidelity to
>> > the point where further improvements would be too costly, no matter
>> > whether it is cultural, biological or technological. I completely
>> > agree with Tim, and would say that "digital" is, in
the real (as
>> > opposed to abstract) world, a name for "very-high-fidelity
>> > reproduction" over analogue substrates. 
>> 
>> Umm - whatever happened to your reductionist stance? Unless you are
>> denying quantum mechanics, or are arguing for emergent properties, it
>> would seem that your only logically consistent argument would  be
>> that  all data storage in the real world is digital. 
>> 
> You'll have to explain this to me. All I can see is that if analogue
> systems can simulate digital ones (and I don't quite see what the
> appeal to QM has to do with this - data storage occurs on macro-level
> systems here, and it is agreed by all that they form analogue states
> of distribution rather than digital binary states), any "digital"
> computer storage is actually an attempt to make a digital system or
> data stream out of what is inherently analgoue.

Who is "by all"? Last time I looked, a hot topic in computing was quantum 
computing, since it is in fact exactly digital, and one of the problems 
in classic silicon systems was that the circuits were getting small 
enough that the analog properties were getting jagged. 

My position on this is admittedly ambiguous. My knowledge of information 
theory is rudimentary at best, but I thought that for most cases analog 
and digital systems are interchangeable. So as the discussion applies to 
biological systems, I actually agree with you and Tim. 

But my objection to your statement still stands - the "real world" is 
ultimately quantum, not analog, i.e. your statement about macro-level 
systems is simply statistical smoothing. It might be an interesting 
philosophical question as to whether choice could in fact ever occur if 
the universe was analog "all the way down" - what would ever trigger the 
choice?


Yours,

Bill Morse
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