Information is something that means something else.
TYPE 1 INFORMATION
The first type of information is a physical thing that means another physical thing. There are two kinds of Type 1 information.
Type 1A: Naturally-Occurring
Perhaps the first occurrence of naturally-occurring information (or any kind of information, for that matter) was DNA (or it's precursor, if it had one). DNA *is* two complimentary strands of nucleotides running along sugar phosphate backbones, and joined by hydrogen bonds. DNA *means* chains of amino acids and proteins.The codons *mean* amino acids.
Another example of naturally-occurring information is the electric current traveling along the optic nerve. The current *is* a series of ions being released by a chain of cells. The current *means* features like edges, contrast, color, and motion.
Type 1B: Human-Made
We have created symbols and systems to represent other things. Examples are prehistoric cave paintings, spoken language, written language, binary coding, and musical notation.
Human-made information might be about naturally-occurring things. Even naturally-occurring information. We have encoded the information in DNA onto paper, into computer files, into models using tinker toys, and other media. Human-made information might be about human-made things. We can talk, or read about architecture.
Naturally-occurring information is also what I'll call *casual* information. I've considered "active", "spontaneous", and "compelling", but I like *causal*. Because of the physical setting it is in, and the laws of physics, naturally occurring information is processed. It's not optional. The information causes it's own processing. The information in DNA is processed, and protein is synthesized. The information in the current moving through the optic nerve is processed, and we see.
(I think processing information might be the defining characteristic of life.)
Whether human-made information is about naturally-occurring or human-made things, it is not causal. The words or models of DNA do not cause protein synthesis. And I can read every book about architecture, and come to learn all there is to learn about it. But I might never design a building in my life.
I'm relatively ok with everything so far. I know some of you will disagree with my definition, my use of "casual", my thought that information processing might be the defining characteristic of life (although that's just a tangent here), and any number of other things I've just said. But here's what I'm really concerned with.
I was having a conversation with someone here, and tree rings came up. Tree rings are naturally-occurring things. But they aren't information by my definition. What could tree rings mean? They do not *mean* rainfall. They do not *mean* the age of the tree.
Nor are they causal.
And yet, from tree rings, We learn the age of the tree, and the amount of rainfall it experienced each year.
Walking through the trees at the foot of a mountain, we can see a huge boulder near fallen trees and branches. From the look of the ends of the broken trunks and branches, we can easily tell that they have been forcefully snapped. Looking up the slope, we can see a line of intermittent gouges in the hillside, starting high up the hill, ending not far above the boulder and broken trees. Looking further up, we see a rocky cliff.
It seems reasonable to think that a boulder broke off of the cliff, came down the hill, and crashed into some trees. It's not a random guess.
But it's not naturally-occurring, causal information. The boulder amidst the broken trees and branches is not information in the sense that it *means* the boulder crashed into the branches, and it is not part of a system that causes anything to happen. The look of the broken ends of trunks and branches does not *mean* they were forcefully snapped, and it is not part of a system that causes anything to happen. The gouges in the hillside do not *mean* the boulder rolled down that slope, and they are not part of a system that causes anything to happen. None of these things *mean* in the sense that codons *mean* amino acids, electrical currents in the optic nerve *mean* qualities of packets of photons, words *mean* specific things, and a mark on a page of musical notation *means* a sound of specific pitch and duration.
Any number of people might see all the same clues, but never even think about how things came about.