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Personal Identity

Information

(Text as at 06/07/2023 00:43:12)

Plug Note¹

• Thesis Text:
  1. Andy Clark is particularly keen on this sort of idea, claiming that we are² “patterns in information space”.
  2. Variants on this theme that immediately come to mind include:-
     1. The transhumanists³ seem to assume that we are information, in that some of them imagine and hope that we⁴ will one day be able to be uploaded⁵ to a computer and dwell therein.
     2. The primary variants of Teletransportation⁶ assume that we can be converted to information, beamed up to our destination and reconstituted as the very same individual.
     3. Brain State Transfers⁷ are another variant on this theme.
  3. I don’t go along with any of this, adopting the animalist⁸ approach that we are essentially organisms⁹ essentially embodied in the one body¹⁰ we will ever have.
  4. I should remark that Richard Dawkins claims that Life¹¹ is information (as distinct from “protoplasm” in that DNA is information, and living organisms exist to perpetuate their genes, as he says in "Dawkins (Richard) - The Blind Watchmaker" and elsewhere). While this is an important idea, and contains much truth, I don’t think it has the right emphasis, though it’s all a bit “chicken and egg”.

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  Further Remarks:
  1. Information Theory is an important topic in its own right, but I’m only interested here in it as far as it informs my Thesis on Personal Identity.
  2. I note in passing that Robert O. Doyle styles himself “The Information Philosopher” and argues that information is at the root of, and the solution to, all philosophical ills. I have my doubts, but haven’t seriously engaged yet with what he has to say.

References

• Relevant Works cited above:
  1. "Dawkins (Richard) - The Blind Watchmaker", 1986, Book, Read
• For a Page of Links¹² to this Note, Click here. There are far too many “false positives” for an updating run, but I’ll use it to cherry-pick items when I get further into this topic.
• Works on this topic that I’ve actually read¹³, include the following:-
  • Aeon:
    1. "Clark (Andy) & Kuhn (Robert Lawrence) - Aeon: Video - Andy Clark - Virtual immortality", 2019, External Link, Footnote₁₄
    2. "Dermendzhiyska (Elitsa) - The misinformation virus", 2021, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    3. "Graziano (Michael) - Endless fun", 2013, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    4. "Levitin (Daniel) - Video - Daniel Levitin on information overload", 2015, External Link
    5. "Schoenfield (Miriam) - Why do you believe what you do? Run some diagnostics on it", 2020, External Link, Internal PDF Link
  • General:
    1. "Christian (Brian) - The Most Human Human: A Defence of Humanity in the Age of the Computer", 2011, Book, Footnote₁₅
    2. "Dawkins (Richard) - The Blind Watchmaker", 1986, Book
    3. "Dretske (Fred) - A Semantic Theory of Information", 1981, No Abstract
    4. "Dretske (Fred) - Communication and Information", 1981, No Abstract
    5. "Dretske (Fred) - Knowledge and the Flow of Information: Preface", 1981
• A further reading list might start with:-
  • General:
    1. "Adriaans (Pieter) - Information", 2012, Internal PDF Link, Read = 21%
    2. "Andrews (Edgar) - Information, stupid! The origin of life", 2009, Read = 6%
    3. "Dretske (Fred) - Knowledge and the Flow of Information", 1981, Book, Read = 10%
    4. "Gitt (Werner) - In the Beginning was Information", 2000, Book, Read = 3%
    5. "Godfrey-Smith (Peter) & Sterelny (Kim) - Biological Information", 2007-16, Internal PDF Link, Read = 17%
    6. "Gracia (Jorge J.E.) - Textual Identity", 1995, Internal PDF Link
    7. "Midgley (Mary) - Wisdom, Information & Wonder - What is Knowledge For?", 1991, Book, Read = 1%
    8. "Penzias (Arno) - Ideas and Information", 1989, Book
    9. "Perry (John) & Israel (David) - Information and Architecture", 1991, No Abstract, Internal PDF Link
    10. "Perry (John) & Israel (David) - What is Information?", 1990, Internal PDF Link
    11. "Popper (Karl) - A Comment on Miller's New Paradox of Information", 1966, Internal PDF Link
    12. "Shannon (Claude) - A Mathematical Theory of Communication", 1949, External Link, Internal PDF Link
    13. "Shannon (Claude) & Weaver (Warren) - The Mathematical Theory of Communication", 1949, Book, Read = 5%
    14. "Vedral (Vlatko) - Decoding Reality: The Universe as Quantum Information", 2010, Book, Read = 4%
    15. "Weaver (Warren) - Recent Contributions to The Mathematical Theory of Communication", 1963, External Link, Internal PDF Link, Read = 7%
• For further papers held on-line of potential interest, follow this Link¹⁶. Total papers = 1.

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• For a list of Works that have been considered, but have missed the cut for inclusion in this Section of my Thesis, see the following:-
  1. Read: No items to list.
  2. Further Reading: No items to list.
• This is mostly a place-holder¹⁷.

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In-Page Footnotes:

Footnote 14:

• Also look through other works by Andy Clark to get a handle on what he means by 'patterns in information space'.

Footnote 15:

• See Chapter 11: “High Surprisal”.

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Table of the Previous 5 Versions of this Note:

Date	Length	Title
20/09/2022 11:24:00	3873	Information
01/05/2022 18:20:10	3492	Information
12/02/2021 23:58:34	3181	Information
29/05/2020 21:33:07	2438	Information
29/03/2018 21:04:19	2974	Information

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Note last updated	Reading List for this Topic	Parent Topic
06/07/2023 00:43:12	Information	Constitution

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Summary of Notes Referenced by This Note

Animalism	Awaiting Attention (Personal Identity)	Body	Brain State Transfer	Life
Note Links Explanation	Organisms	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage	Plug Note Apologia	Teletransportation
Transhumanism	Uploading	What are We?	Works Read - Explanation

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Summary of Notes Citing This Note

Aeon Papers	Animation	Baker - Review - Olson - What Are We?	Brain State Transfer, 2, 3	Disembodied Existence
Genetics	Interregnum	Intuition	Olson - What Are We? The Question	PID Note, Book & Paper Usage, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7
Reduplication Objections	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What are We?), 2, 3, 4, 5	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It), 2	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments), 2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Thesis - Chapter 11 (Resurrection), 2
Uploading	Website Generator Documentation - Functors, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6

To access information, click on one of the links in the table above.

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Authors, Books & Papers Citing this Note

Author	Title	Medium	Extra Links	Read?
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Review of 'What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology' by Eric T. Olson	Paper		Yes
Clark (Andy) & Kuhn (Robert Lawrence)	Aeon: Video - Andy Clark - Virtual immortality	Paper		Yes
Doyle (Robert O.)	N/A	Author	2
Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul)	Aeon: 2019+	Paper		Yes
Heyes (Cecilia M.)	Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking	Paper		Yes
Honderich (Ted)	N/A	Author
Lachmann (Michael) & Walker (Sara)	Life ≠ alive	Paper	2	Yes
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? The Question	Paper		Yes
Papineau (David)	Introducing Consciousness	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Animation	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Brain State Transfer	Paper	2, 3	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 02 (What Are We?)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 06 (Animalism and Arguments for It)	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 10 (Thought Experiments)	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Chapter 11 (Resurrection)	Paper	2	Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Disembodied Existence	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Genetics	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Interregnum	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Intuition	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Reduplication Objections	Paper		Yes
Todman (Theo)	Thesis - Uploading	Paper		Yes
Van Inwagen (Peter)	Materialism and the Psychological-continuity Account of Personal Identity	Paper	2, 3, 4, 5, 6	Yes
Vedral (Vlatko)	Decoding Reality: The Universe as Quantum Information	Book	2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16

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References & Reading List

Author	Title	Medium	Source	Read?
Adriaans (Pieter)	Information	Paper - Cited	Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, 2012	21%
Andrews (Edgar)	Information, stupid! The origin of life	Paper - By Subtopic	Andrews (Edgar) - Who Made God? Searching For a Theory of Everything, Chapter 12	6%
Andrews (Edgar)	Who Made God? Searching For a Theory of Everything	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Andrews (Edgar) - Who Made God? Searching For a Theory of Everything	37%
Baker (Lynne Rudder)	Review of 'What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology' by Eric T. Olson	Paper - Referencing	Mind, 117:1120-1122, 2008	Yes
Berry (R.J.), Ed.	Real Scientists, Real Faith: 17 Leading Scientists Reveal the Harmony Between Their Science and Their Faith	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Berry (R.J.), Ed. - Real Scientists, Real Faith: 17 Leading Scientists Reveal the Harmony Between Their Science and Their Faith	20%
Bohm (David)	Meaning and Information	Paper - By Subtopic	Pylkkanen - The Search for Meaning - The New Spirit in Science and Philosophy	No
Bohm (David), Wilkins (Maurice), Steen (Francis Frode), Sheldrake (Rupert), etc.	Meaning and Information: Discussion	Paper - By Subtopic	Pylkkanen - The Search for Meaning - The New Spirit in Science and Philosophy	No
Briggs (Andrew)	And Information Became Physical	Paper - By Subtopic	Berry (R.J.) - Real Scientists, Real Faith: 17 Leading Scientists Reveal the Harmony Between Their Science and Their Faith	No
Chislenko (Alexander)	Intelligent Information Filters and Enhanced Reality	Paper - By Subtopic	More & Vita-More - The Transhumanist Reader, Part III - Chapter 13	No
Christian (Brian)	The Most Human Human: A Defence of Humanity in the Age of the Computer	Book - Cited	Christian (Brian) - The Most Human Human: A Defence of Humanity in the Age of the Computer	Yes
Clark (Andy) & Kuhn (Robert Lawrence)	Aeon: Video - Andy Clark - Virtual immortality	Paper - Cited	Aeon, 19 August, 2019	Yes
Dawkins (Richard)	The Blind Watchmaker	Book - Cited	Dawkins (Richard) - The Blind Watchmaker	Yes
Dennett (Daniel)	Brainchildren - Essays on Designing Minds	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Dennett (Daniel) - Brainchildren - Essays on Designing Minds	1%
Dennett (Daniel)	Information, Technology, and the Virtues of Ignorance	Paper - By Subtopic	Dennett - Brainchildren - Essays on Designing Minds	No
Dermendzhiyska (Elitsa)	The misinformation virus	Paper - By Subtopic	Aeon, 16 April 2021	Yes
Dretske (Fred)	A Semantic Theory of Information	Paper - By Subtopic	Dretske - Knowledge and the Flow of Information, 1981, Chapter 3	Yes
Dretske (Fred)	Communication and Information	Paper - By Subtopic	Dretske - Knowledge and the Flow of Information, 1981, Chapter 2	Yes
Dretske (Fred)	Knowledge and the Flow of Information	Book - Cited	Dretske (Fred) - Knowledge and the Flow of Information	10%
Dretske (Fred)	Knowledge and the Flow of Information: Preface	Paper - By Subtopic	Dretske - Knowledge and the Flow of Information, 1981	Yes
Dretske (Fred)	Precis of Knowledge and the Flow of Information	Paper - By Subtopic	Kornblith - Naturalizing Epistemology	No
Evans (Gareth)	Information, Belief, and Thought	Paper - By Subtopic	Evans - Evans - The Varieties of Reference, 1982, Chapter 5	No
Evans (Gareth), McDowell (John), Ed.	The Varieties of Reference	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Evans (Gareth), McDowell (John), Ed. - The Varieties of Reference	No
Fodor (Jerry)	Information and Representation	Paper - By Subtopic	Margolis & Laurence - Concepts - Core Readings	No
Gitt (Werner)	In the Beginning was Information	Book - Cited	Gitt (Werner) - In the Beginning was Information	3%
Gitt (Werner)	In the Beginning was Information	Paper - By Subtopic	Gitt - In the Beginning was Information	6%
Godfrey-Smith (Peter)	Genes Do not Encode Information for Phenotypic Traits	Paper - By Subtopic	Hitchcock (Christopher) - Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Science, 2004	No
Godfrey-Smith (Peter) & Sterelny (Kim)	Biological Information	Paper - By Subtopic	Stanford Encyclopaedia of Philosophy, 2007-16	17%
Greeno (James)	Explanation and Information	Paper - By Subtopic	Salmon (Wesley), Jeffrey & Greeno - Statistical Explanation and Statistical Relevance	No
Hains (Brigid) & Hains (Paul)	Aeon: C-F	Book - Cited (via Paper Cited)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	51%
Heyes (Cecilia M.)	Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	Yes
Heyes (Cecilia M.)	Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking	Paper - Referencing	Heyes (Cecilia M.) - Cognitive Gadgets: The Cultural Evolution of Thinking	Yes
Hitchcock (Christopher), Ed.	Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Science	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Hitchcock (Christopher), Ed. - Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Science	No
Kornblith (Hilary)	Naturalizing Epistemology	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Kornblith (Hilary) - Naturalizing Epistemology	No
Levitin (Daniel)	Video - Daniel Levitin on information overload	Paper - By Subtopic	Aeon, 07 April 2015	Yes
Loewer (Barry)	From Information to Intentionality	Paper - By Subtopic	Stich & Warfield - Mental Representation	No
MacKinnon (Robert F.)	Bridge, Probability & Information	Book - By Subtopic	MacKinnon (Robert F.) - Bridge, Probability & Information	10%
Marcel (Anthony J.) & Bisiach (Edoardo)	Consciousness in Contemporary Science	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Marcel (Anthony J.) & Bisiach (Edoardo) - Consciousness in Contemporary Science	2%
Margolis (Eric) & Laurence (Stephen), Eds.	Concepts - Core Readings	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Margolis (Eric) & Laurence (Stephen), Eds. - Concepts - Core Readings	No
Midgley (Mary)	Wisdom, Information & Wonder - What is Knowledge For?	Book - Cited	Midgley (Mary) - Wisdom, Information & Wonder - What is Knowledge For?	1%
Midgley (Mary)	Wisdom, Information & Wonder - What is Knowledge For?	Paper - By Subtopic	Midgley - Wisdom, Information & Wonder - What is Knowlwedge For?	1%
Miller (David)	A Paradox of Information	Paper - By Subtopic	British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 17, No. 1, May, 1966, pp. 59-61	No
Millikan (Ruth Garrett)	What has Natural Information to do with Intentional Representation?	Paper - By Subtopic	Walsh - Naturalism, Evolution and the Mind	No
More (Max) & Vita-More (Natasha)	The Transhumanist Reader	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	More (Max) & Vita-More (Natasha) - The Transhumanist Reader	6%
Morris (Thomas)	Identity, Necessity, and Information	Paper - By Subtopic	Morris - Understanding Identity Statements, 1984, Chapter 5	No
Morris (Thomas)	Understanding Identity Statements	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Morris (Thomas) - Understanding Identity Statements	No
Olson (Eric)	Computer-Generated Life	Paper - By Subtopic	Final version: Olson, E.T. (1997) The Ontological Basis of Strong Artificial Life. Artificial Life, 3 (1). pp. 29-39	No
Olson (Eric)	Papers on Identity Boxes: Vol 13 (Olson)	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Olson (Eric) - Papers on Identity Boxes: Vol 13 (Olson)	16%
Olson (Eric)	What are We? A Study of Personal Ontology	Book - Referencing (via Paper Referencing)	Bibliographical details to be supplied	99%
Olson (Eric)	What Are We? The Question	Paper - Referencing	What Are We? A Study in Personal Ontology, Chapter 1 (November 2007: Oxford University Press.)	Yes
Penzias (Arno)	Ideas and Information	Book - By Subtopic	Penzias (Arno) - Ideas and Information	No
Perry (John)	Identity, Personal Identity and the Self	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Perry (John) - Identity, Personal Identity and the Self	3%
Perry (John)	Individuals in Informational and Intentional Content	Paper - By Subtopic	The Problem of the Essential Indexical and Other Essays. New York: Oxford University Press, 1993.	No
Perry (John)	Information, Action, and Persons	Paper - By Subtopic	Perry - Identity, Personal Identity and the Self, 2002, Chapter 9	No
Perry (John) & Israel (David)	Information and Architecture	Paper - By Subtopic	Situation Theory and Its Applications, vol. 2 edited by Jon Barwise, Jean Mark Gawron, Gordon Plotkin and Syun Tutiya, 147–60. Stanford University: Center for the Study of Language and Information, 1991	No
Perry (John) & Israel (David)	What is Information?	Paper - By Subtopic	Information, Language and Cognition, edited by Philip Hanson, University of British Columbia Press, 1990 of British Columbia Press, 1990: 1-19	No
Pollock (John L.)	The Building of Oscar	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Perspectives, Vol. 2, No., Epistemology (1988), pp. 315-344	No
Pollock (John L.)	Understanding the Language of Thought	Paper - By Subtopic	Philosophical Studies, Vol. 58, No. 1/2, Symposium on Thought and Reference (Jan. - Feb., 1990), pp. 95-120	No
Popper (Karl)	A Comment on Miller's New Paradox of Information	Paper - By Subtopic	British Journal for the Philosophy of Science, Vol. 17, No. 1, May, 1966, pp. 61-69	No
Price (Huw), Cave (Stephen), Iida (Fumiya), Etc.	Preparing for the future: artificial intelligence and us: Part 1	Paper - By Subtopic	University of Cambridge Research Horizons, Issue 35, February 2018, pp. 20-29	Yes
Price (Huw), Cave (Stephen), Iida (Fumiya), Etc.	Preparing for the future: artificial intelligence and us: Part 2	Paper - By Subtopic	University of Cambridge Research Horizons, Issue 35, February 2018, pp. 30-37	Yes
Pylkkanen (Paavo), Ed.	The Search for Meaning - The New Spirit in Science and Philosophy	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Pylkkanen (Paavo), Ed. - The Search for Meaning - The New Spirit in Science and Philosophy	No
Salmon (Wesley), Jeffrey (Richard) & Greeno (James)	Statistical Explanation and Statistical Relevance	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Salmon (Wesley), Jeffrey (Richard) & Greeno (James) - Statistical Explanation and Statistical Relevance	No
Sandberg (Anders) & Bostrom (Nick)	Whole Brain Emulation: A Roadmap	Paper - By Subtopic	Future of Humanity Institute Website, 2008	No
Sarkar (Sahotra)	Genes Encode Information for Phenotypic Traits	Paper - By Subtopic	Hitchcock (Christopher) - Contemporary Debates in Philosophy of Science,, 2004	No
Schoenfield (Miriam)	Why do you believe what you do? Run some diagnostics on it	Paper - By Subtopic	Aeon, 22 April 2020	Yes
Shallice (Tim)	Information-processing models of consciousness: possibilities and problems	Paper - By Subtopic	Marcel & Bisiach - Consciousness in Contemporary Science	No
Shannon (Claude)	A Mathematical Theory of Communication	Paper - By Subtopic	Shannon & Weaver - The Mathematical Theory of Communication, 1949	No
Shannon (Claude) & Weaver (Warren)	The Mathematical Theory of Communication	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Shannon (Claude) & Weaver (Warren) - The Mathematical Theory of Communication	5%
Stich (Stephen) & Warfield (Ted), Eds.	Mental Representation: A Reader	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Stich (Stephen) & Warfield (Ted), Eds. - Mental Representation: A Reader	0%
Strobel (Lee)	The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Strobel (Lee) - The Case for a Creator: A Journalist Investigates Scientific Evidence That Points Toward God	12%
Strobel (Lee)	The Evidence of Biological Information: The Challenge of DNA and the Origin of Life - An Interview with Stephen C. Meyer	Paper - By Subtopic	Strobel - The Case for a Creator, 2004	No
Taschek (William W.)	Frege's Puzzle, Sense, and Information Content	Paper - By Subtopic	Mind 101.404, Oct. 1992, pp. 767-791	No
Walsh (Denis), Ed.	Naturalism, Evolution and the Mind	Book - By Subtopic (via Paper By Subtopic)	Walsh (Denis), Ed. - Naturalism, Evolution and the Mind	12%
Weaver (Warren)	Recent Contributions to The Mathematical Theory of Communication	Paper - By Subtopic	Shannon & Weaver - The Mathematical Theory of Communication	7%
Wikipedia	Large language model	Paper - By Subtopic	Wikipedia; Extract taken 28 June 2023	No

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1. Blue: Text by me; © Theo Todman, 2023

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