15 - the location of meaning

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Chapter

15

ChapterVI:TheLocationof Meaning

’Twas

brillig,

and

the

slithy

toves

Did

gyre

and

gimble

in

the

wabe:

All mimsy were the borogoves,

And

the

mome

raths

outgrabe.

—

Jabberwocky

15.1 Questions

1. Ismeaningthe interactionof amind(ormechanism)andamessage,or is it inherent inthe

message?

2. Define information-bearer.

3. Define information-revealer.

4. TowhatextentdoesyourDNA“mean”you?

5.

Define

exotic

isomorphisms.

6. Defineprosaic isomporhisms.

7. What isbeing“pulledout”of DNA?

8. Whydoesn’tasong“reveal”themeaninginpushingthebuttonA-5?

9. Doesallthe informationaboutaorganism’sstructurereside in itsDNA?Whyorwhynot?

10. Considertherecordsenttoanaliencivilization. Doestherecordstillhavemeaning?

11. Considertheartifactssenttousfromourpast(stonehenge,easterisland,etc.). Doyouthink

we

are

missing

some

intended

meaning?

12. Define information.

13. Towhatextent isthemeaningof mathematicalequations(inphysics)thephysicalbehavior

of theuniverse?

14. Defineframemessage.

46



15. DRH talks about the the contradiction of having a John Cage record sent to an alien civilization. Whensomethingappearstohavemeaningbutthendoesn’tweareoftenconfused.Considerπ= 3.14159...whichshowsupinavarietyof situations,butitsdigitsare

statistically

speaking random!

16. Whatdoyouthinkof Hofstadter’sconjectureonpage165?

Meaning

is

part

of

an

object

to

the

extent

that

it

acts

upon

intelligence

in

a

predictable

way.

17. Outlinethethree layersof anymessage. HowdoesthisrelatetotheContracrostipunctus?

18. Googlethe“VoynichManuscript”.

19. Definethe“Jukebox”Theoryof meaning.

20. DoesDNAneedabio-jukebox?

21. HowdoesDRHrelatethechaptertoabortion?

47



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Gödel, Escher, Bach: A Mental Space Odyssey

Summer 2007

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15 - the location of meaning

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