> > > Isn't that the point, information is entropy.   
   >   
      
   Thanks for the thoughts, but this discussion helped me to realize that there   
   is no decent scientific definition of "information." This physicist Leo Szilard   
   tried to equate entropy and information in a 1936 paper. He posited a Maxwell   
   Demon that "knows" the trajectory of an incoming gas molecule, and if he has   
   that   
   'knowledge,' then he can effectively make a perpetual motion machine based on   
   that information.   
   I have no doubt Shannon is correct in what he is describing, but to call it an   
   "information theory" is a crazy thing, imo. It's just psychologically   
   off-kilter.   
   Ha Ha. But any psychologist knows that some types crave "certain certainties."   
   You know, it's a classic ego neurosis.   
      
   But even playing scientific hop-scotch the way some want, you come eventually   
   to this failure of info theory, and you then have a choice to acknowledge the   
   mystery or to ignore it. It's ridiculous to say information is entropy, even   
   though having information could lead to a decrease in entropy, as Szilard   
   speculated.   
      
   But that's bad logic. If I know where to get horse manure, and I use that   
   information to get it, (As I have done for a garden.) - then does that mean   
   that horse manure is the source of information? Like the Maxwell Demon, I   
   accumulated something based on information I had, but does that equate them?   
      
   I am skeptical that Shannon's law about communication channels is a very useful   
   heuristic in science or engineering. Even if it is useful, it does not seem to   
   have any generality. If I throw a rotten tomato at a Thespian, then Newton's   
   Law applies. This gemische entropy theory does not offer any such solace.   
      
   Is this a bad thing? Heck no! I think there is a pony in that mess! Max Planck   
   was obsessed with this very problem. (It's engraved on his grave stone.)   
      
   jb   
      
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