2.2 The Big Picture

Genetics.. let me try and get some authenticity behind this stuff. So I am quoting Dr John C. Sanford "Genetic Entropy" 3rd ed 2008.

Dr John Sanford a Cornell University Professor for more than 25 years.. trained graduate students and conducted genetic research.. has published over 80 scientific pubs and was granted over 30 patents. He invented the 'gene gun' and two other genetic processes.. Two enterprises came from his research..

pp140 "For decades biologists have argued on a philosophical level that the very special qualities of natural selection can essentially reverse the biological effects of the second law of thermodynamics. In this way, it has been argued, the degenerative effects of entropy in living systems can be negated, making life itself potentially immortal, However all of the analysis of this book contradicts that philosophical assumption. Mutational entropy appears to be so strong within large genomes that selection cannot reverse it. This makes eventual extinction of such genomes inevitable. I have termed the fundamental problem Genetic Entropy... derived from careful analysis of how selection really operates."

There's that word.. 'entropy' and the 'second law'. He quotes numerous well researched challengers to this idea but even their data in the end comes out the same.. even with extremely favourable assumptions. And then..

pp147 "Caution: The term "Shannon entropy" will be used by some to confuse the issue of genetic entropy. Shannon entropy is an unfortunate and misleading term which was coined to refer to certain statistical properties of potential information. It is a way to measure the "surprise value" of a letter within a string of letters. Any simple repeating pattern reduces a string's Shannon entropy value. A high Shannon information value can reflect either a randomized set of letters or a carefully written poem!"

Not only is Shannon information NOT semantic information but..
Shannon entropy is NOT thermodynamic entropy..?

This not what the 'secular education system' wants you to know..!!

2.1 The Big Picture

Just today I heard on CBS news how Mathew Martoma has just been sentenced to 9 years goal (jail) for insider trading to the tune of 9 million dollars but his boss S A Cohen is not charged with anything.. A commenter said that no one had been charged with any criminal activity over the 2008 financial crisis.. and this re.. Wall Street. "there's no right and wrong..".

A story on Al Jazeera revealed an insiders view of safety concerns with the Boeing 787.. Look I am an ex Pom (uk convicts transported to Australia were labelled POME ie Prisoner of Mother England so UK immigrants got to be called Poms) now Australian, but I would not dream of taking a cheep swipe at Boeing.. The 747 story is a fantastic chapter in all our aviation lives. I love those big jets. My company in Melbourne did Boeing work and eventually got taken over by Boeing well that's how it goes. But this story reveals something new going on.. a failure in 'average' morality and ethics. I always thought working for an aircraft company is the tops.. It is the cutting edge of engineering.. but the workers in an aircraft company like Boeing have got to represent the educated middle at least. The concerns were so significant an ex-engineer said that they would not fly on one..!! These are connected and they relate to what is happening in education?

If you learn at school your just another animal, there is no God to be ultimately accountable to when you die, life is just 'survival of the fittest'.. then not only was Hitler right, but even as a kid you have to make up your own rules about right and wrong. Good luck..! I say we are just beginning to reap what we have sown.. that's in the bible..!

So what else is on the table.. The rate of extinction of species a few years ago was described by a professional researcher as "terrifying".. our genome on average accumulates 100 errors per generation so we are seeing new genetic diseases and the higher prevalence of genetic disorders. Over consumption of limited resources and new strains of killer diseases like Ebola.. Gloomy stuff indeed.

We are witnessing a decline of biblical proportions.. that's not a pun.. because that's where it is described..!

2.0 The Big Picture

There is too much.. for the time I give to this.! I am aware a few of you really want to understand.. truth should be like that.. available to everyone.. hence my Wikipedia involvement. I truly and deeply despise ignorance and particularly when its deliberate. That's a justice issue and I honestly believe I have a responsibility to tell what I know and yes invite anyone to tell me I'm wrong or out with the fairies etc..

There is a much 'bigger picture' to all this.. WHY.. am I discovering stuff that should already be there in our education system, open for discussion and question without cover-up or fear..

Well we don't actually have "truth'.. the best we can do is what I call "verified knowledge".. There is an underlying truth to knowledge, its just that we can never say we actually have it.. However truth can and would be known to an infinite mind.. and if that mind chose to reveal it.. please just hold that thought. 

I am now reading James Gleick's "The Information".. he is a very good writer and does his homework very thoroughly. BUT.. How does he end up concluding (haven't finished the book yet but this was given on a radio interview with the author)

          INFORMATION  (now) =    UNCERTAINTY

Whatever he means by information it's not 'semantic information'.. but surely he knows that.. a couple of quotes..

pp44 (In regard to the deciphering of cuneiform mathematical tablets)

"They were like maps of a mysterious city. This was the key to deciphering them, finally; the ordered chaos that seems to guarantee the the presence of meaning."

'ordered chaos' is an oxymoron.. 'ordered' means by definition not chaotic..?

Here's a hint.. of the problem for the naturalist..

pp32 "The paleographer has a unique bootstrap problem. Its only writing that makes its own history possible".

Pointing to my much earlier conclusion.. semantic information is recursive.

next time.

1.5 The Problem

Get this.. Here is how the Wikipedia editor in contention with me defines the second law..

One may consider an initial set {i } of several thermodynamic systems each its own state of internal thermodynamic equilibrium with entropy {S_i }. There may then occur a thermodynamic operation by which the walls between those systems are changed in permeability or otherwise altered, so that there results a new and final set {f } of physical systems, at first not in thermodynamic equilibrium. Eventually they will settle into their own states of internal thermodynamic equilibrium having entropies {S_f }. The second law asserts that

and that's supposed to explain why a sandcastle will fall down and not back up..!!

The above is absolute BS because it takes no account of 'logically' ordered states like 'information',  only physically ordered states like where one part is hot and another cold. I can't hardly believe such ignorance.. this guy is supported by over 460 observers.. we are in deep trouble.

The best and most meaningful statement of the Second Law is..

  Any system left to itself will tend to move to its most probable state..!

I did finally manage to put a {further explanation needed} tag on the misuse of the word "evolve" (dictionary synonym 'develop') where it should read "decay" hopefully directing people to the 'talk' page to see why.

I also got some clarification into the page on 'Introduction to Entropy'.. but there is a glaring confusion still there to be dealt with.. in particular use of the term "information entropy".. suggesting there are different types of entropy.. there are not..
                       There is only ONE entropy..!

 What I am telling you here is only the tip of the iceberg..

1.4 The Problem

Well in all that effort on the Wiki.. I have now written 18458 words in contributions to the 'talk - Entropy' page all about changing ONE WORD in the entropy article.. simply because it is being used in a manner contrary to its dictionary definition.!! That ought to tell you something.

In that context I have raised another word which is likewise kept in a seriously darkened state as to its real meaning..    COMPLEXITY

You see it is argued that 'evolution by natural selection' is the 'mechanism' by which complexity increases in nature. (ref Bill Nye debate with Ken Ham). But what does that mean if you don't define complexity?

The truth is they don't want to define it in any rigorous way because it would present such a huge problem for any proposal it can evolve by any natural process. Go ahead look up "define complexity".. you will see what I mean.

There is another word before I leave this introduction and it is..

                            INFORMATION

If you look this up you will be directed to a theory analyzing data transfer in a noisy environment by Claude Shannon and all I need to say about that is you will be mislead because Shannon was not interested in the significance or content of the signal. Only how the limits of error tolerance affect transmission. So in his terminology a message with the highest level of 'information' would be a random stream of characters ie with no expectation of the next character like the next letter in a word. Here's the quote from 'The Mathematical Theory of Communication' by Claude Shannon "meaning.. is irrelevant to the engineering problem". The best reference I can give you is the following..

[http://schneider.ncifcrf.gov/information.is.not.uncertainty.html]

This is the actual inverse of what the thermodynamic term entropy means for semantic information. Shannon's work is important but it is unfortunate that he chose to use the word 'entropy' for both information and uncertainty.. As a result the literature abounds with "Information = entropy and entropy = uncertainty".. The resolution is simple Shannon information is NOT semantic information (with meaning) as I am referring to.


So these three words are at the root of the problem..

           ENTROPY    -    COMPLEXITY    -    INFORMATION

(Which causes problems with another word..     DESIGN )

This is the 'no man's land' between two apparently very unequally matched sides..


We all have a list.. 'truth we don't want to know'. My advice keep it as small as possible

Have a very good day

1.3 The Problem

I recently tried, once again, to correct misleading information on the Wikipedia article 'Entropy'.. the article reads as follows.. (yellow highlight mine)

According to the second law of thermodynamics the entropy of an isolated system never decreases, because isolated systems spontaneously evolve towards thermodynamic equilibrium, the configuration with maximum entropy.

Note the use of the word "evolve".. Here are the dictionary definitions for the word 'evolve'..

The Science Dictionary
    To undergo biological evolution, as in the development of new species or new traits within a species.

    To develop a characteristic through the process of evolution.

    To undergo change and development, as the structures of the universe.

Example sentences
The world-and the employment marketplace- evolve  and progress. Superbugs evolve  when common bacterial infections develop resistance to the

Dictionary.com

1. to develop gradually: to evolve a scheme.
2. to give off or emit, as odors or vapors.

verb (used without object), e·volved, e·volv·ing.
3. to come forth gradually into being; develop; undergo evolution: The whole idea evolved from a casual remark.
4. Biology . to develop by a process of evolution to a different adaptive state or condition: The human species evolved from an ancestor that was probably arboreal.

Not only is DEVELOP the dominant synonym.. its also tied to PROGRESS both implying improvement in the quality of some given aspect.. re-enforced by

Thesaurus
1. a. To develop or achieve gradually: evolve a style of one's own.

    b. To work (something) out; devise: ...
2. Biology To develop (a characteristic) by evolutionary processes. ...

1. To undergo gradual change; develop: an amateur acting group that evolved into a theatrical company.
2. Biology To develop or arise through evolutionary processes. ...

Let me make it VERY CLEAR isolated thermodynamic systems DON'T IMPROVE in any way.. They DECAY from 'interesting' to 'boring' equilibrium.. where they stay.. However when I point this out.. in jump the hard liners, the old guard rusted on - to evolutionist dogma.

This is the new dark age..

1.2 The Problem

Sorry folks for the long delay in posting.. I am embroiled in a huge mess which resulted in a court case with the Australian Civil Aviation Safety Authority (CASA) concerning my J2 gyroplane.. So I'll be brief..

Even though we have difficulty actually saying what 'energy' is.. we all pretty much understand what it can do. It can manifest itself as a property of matter (temperature, speed etc) or it can just propagate itself through space at the ultimate speed of anything as electromagnetic radiation. But even light has a small amount of 'momentum', which is calculated as mass x speed so it seems photons of light either have some mass or apparent mass. And of course everyone knows of Albert Einstein and his equation E = MC^2 which, notwithstanding atomic bombs, is a fairly deep concept.

Well that's all very fine but what about Entropy..? and who has even heard of Ludwig Botzmann let alone his most famous equation..
s = k.ln W (s = entropy)? Hardly any student at high school I have met is remotely aware of it! Yet it is just as important.. Progress in technology is constrained to meet several criteria but three substantial barriers are common to all..

(1) ENERGY.. we do not have an energy crisis, its an entropy crisis, plenty about but most of it is unavailable

(2) RELIABILITY.. how long can it hold off the law of increasing entropy

(3) COST.. can we afford it.

Which is why for instance electric cars struggle to make it in the market.. How to have enough 'light' batteries to give the power required with long enough service life and low enough replacement cost.. for like us, they will die.

If the understanding of entropy is of major importance.. why don't school kids know about it and why is the Wikipedia such a mess?