Reply #39: Your argument is just semantics. [View All]

[Jim__]

You are free to define information in any way that you want. However, any defintion of information that leads to statements like: it is impossible to have information exist without having a mental source makes subsequent statements like: there is no known natural law through which matter can give rise to information close to a tautology. But, such arguments tell us nothing. They tell us nothing about the possible origin of the information in DNA. DNA is a molecule, a very complex molecule, but a molecule none the less. Molecules are formed through physical processes.

You can define information in such a way that the DNA molecule cannot contain information until there is a conscious mind to interpret the information. But, the molecule itself can still come into existence without the need for consciousness; it can still perform the functions that we know it performs, we are now just restricted from labeling the processes or functions as information based. That is merely semantics. It tells us nothing about reality. It places no restriction on the origins of the DNA molecule nor on the origins of life; just on how we talk about these things.