Foundations of Omniphysical Life
We human beings exist in the information terms of two separate and distinct information fields. Each field enables a self in its information terms: body is the self of the physical field and mind is the self of the descriptive field. Due to the different information nature of each field, each self thinks, is conscious, and conserves information in entirely different information terms.
Mind is a powerful descriptive self who is able to be supported omniphysically by any number of means. My mind is me, the self of my self-awareness, identity, intellegence, autonomy, command, and persistence. My body can be replaced by ones of greater capability.
An information field is a realm of information content that is separate and distinct and of its own kind. The information of one field cannot be reduced to or expressed in the information terms of another field. There are three known information fields: the quantum, the physical, and the descriptive. Alone among life’s creatures, we humans are privileged to exist in the information terms of both the physical and descriptive information fields and thus have both a body and a mind. Being a purely descriptive information entity, mind can be supported omniphysically by any number of appropriate physical means. It can move from body to body.
Body is the self of the physical information field and mind is the self of the descriptive information field. Each is existent, aware and self-aware, autonomous, and acts to its purposes – but only in its distinct information terms. Body is conscious in its sensory information terms while mind is conscious in its descriptive terms. Body exercises its physical capabilities and mind exercises its descriptive capabilities. Body’s information is embodied in form and function; mind’s information exists as its system of descriptive meanings. Body’s information is inherent in and constrained by the nature of its forms and functions. Mind’s system of meanings is openly extensible and is unlimited in its information potential. Body is subject to the dissipative forces of the universe and will one day wear out and fail. Mind can persist indefinitely by moving from body to body. Life’s persistence can be vested in the individual, founding a new system of life.
My mind is me, the subjective ‘I,’ the guy inside. It is my mind that allows me to be aware and self-identify as the person I am, the one living my life. It is my mind that makes me powerfully-intelligent, able to draw on my vast information stores. My mind is the me of my beliefs, history, knowledge, expertise, ethics, ways of thinking, and creativity. My mind is the me of my autonomy and command, the one who tells my body what to do. It is my mind who conserves my past, knows that I am alive in the present, and who aspires for a future. A body is essential but my body can be replaced by new and ultimately more capable ones. My mind is the me who is able to persist by moving from body to body.
All of mind’s contents and capabilities exist in descriptive information terms. This can be shown formally as well as through introspective experiment, understanding our evolutionary emergence, and by mind surveilling itself.
The fact of information fields establishes a clear line of demarcation between mind and brain. Mind exists only in the information terms of the descriptive information field. Brain exists only in the information terms of the physical field. Mind is a system of descriptive meanings while brain is the physical means that, among other things, supports mind’s system of meanings. Mind is materially dependent on brain but informationally independent of it. We can be confused about mind and brain because brain has been adapted to process two distinct kinds of information. Brain’s processing of physical field information is physical cause and effect operating within body’s information-laden material structures. Brain supports mind’s system of descriptive meanings by appropriately processing neuronal tokens representing those meanings.
Mind’s systems of meanings are informationally independent but materially dependent on the symbol tokens and processors that physically support the systems of meanings. Within the descriptive system of mind, capabilities are meanings which are algorithmic instructions for manipulating descriptive meanings. The manipulation of those meanings requires the physical processing of tokens to which those meanings are assigned. That requires instructions/software directing the actions of the processor. Those instructions are instantiated in the neuronal structures of brain-supported mind but will be explicitly specified and effectuated for omniphysical mind.
Mind and body conserve information in completely different information terms. Mind conserves information in its descriptive information terms. The conserved information of body (and brain) is inherent in and embodied in physical form and function whether as brain’s neuronal representations, body’s form and functions, the learned or genetically-determined performances of body, or the genome and its abilities to instruct the creation of new bodies. Mind’s descriptive conservations depend on the physical means supporting mind’s system of meanings. If the tokens and processors which support mind are incapable of robust conservation or atrophy over time, mind’s conservation abilities are affected.
Viewed through an information lens, body is an information system existing in the physical information field. Unlike mind’s information which exists as descriptive meanings, body’s information is inherent in and embodied in orderly forms and functions. For example, if we suffer a pin prick, our body feels the pain and mind describes it. Each of our two selves has its experience in its own information terms.
In the physical information field, physical cause and effect is information processing. For example, when a stimulus has its effects on a sensory device, all along the ensuing chain of physical cause and effect, instantiated information is appropriately transformed, conserved, and conveyed, ultimately having its physical impacts as evolution and learning have enabled. Throughout all of this, information is embodied; physical field information is the information of its physical correlates. Unlike the information of the descriptive field, there is no information assignment; the information is that of its physical correlates. Thus, while descriptive meanings are represented by physical means, there is no representation of physical field information; the information is inherent in the material entities themselves.
It is our two-field existence that makes our lives so rich and robust. Other creatures are confined to the physical information field and have no access to the informational power of description. The linkages of mind and brain/body underwrite our amazing experiences. Bodily sensations can trigger mind’s descriptions while mind’s descriptions can induce body’s emotions and actions. As two-field creatures in which my mind is me, it is the semantic power of mind that makes our experiences so rich and full of meaning. As omniphysical, our capabilities and experiences in both information fields will be greatly enhanced.
As omniphysical, we are no longer stuck with one body that must be lugged around if we desire to change locations. We expand our spatial reach by the ability of mind to travel near the speed of light to new bodies. As for time, the ability of omniphysical mind to conserve information transparently and in full fidelity enhances the autonomy and the informational power of the individual. The me of my past is taken forward as part of my current me, allowing my past experiences to be reexperienced anew as if I’m there again.
While some other creatures are able to assign information (‘this means that’), no other creatures have been able to cross the threshold to descriptive systems in which meanings are determined by their defined relations to each other. Other creatures’ inability to deploy symbol systems and thereby establish the essential foundation for mind is due to evolutionary, physiological, environmental, and social facts.
The key intellectual properties are: 1) how omniphysical mind gains the capabilities of awareness and self-awareness (US 9,600,772); 2) the seminal system of omniphysical mind able to operate as a purposive and thinking descriptive self (US 9,412,069); 3) the information basis for mind to evaluate and effectuate a move to a new body (US 10,572,804); and 4) the information foundations for a unit of life’s persistence at the level of the individual (US 16,784,880).