Some very interesting opportunities are coming up to hear William Dembski, one of the handful of true rock stars of the intelligent-design movement, speak about his research, including themes from his upcoming book Being as Communion: A Metaphysics of Information. If you’re in the Seattle area, we’ve already told you about the launch event for the new book at McCaw Hall on July 16. For that you’ll need to register in advance, though the event is free. Go do that now, if you haven’t.
Also, next month Dr. Dembski will be speaking at the University of Chicago as part of the Computations in Science Seminar. His subject is the Conservation of Information. From the description page:
Conservation of Information (CoI) asserts that the amount of information a search outputs can equal but never exceed the amount of information it inputs. Mathematically, CoI sets limits on the information cost incurred when the probability of success of a targeted search gets raised from p to q (p < q), that cost being calculated in terms of the probability p/q. CoI builds on the No Free Lunch (NFL) theorems, which showed that average performance of any search is no better than blind search. CoI shows that when, for a given problem, a search outperforms blind search, it does so by incorporating an amount of information determined by the increase in probability with which the search outperforms blind search. CoI applies to evolutionary search, showing that natural selection cannot create the information that enables evolution to be successful, but at best redistributes already existing information. CoI has implications for teleology in nature, consistent with natural teleological laws mooted in Thomas Nagel’s Mind & Cosmos.
That’s Wednesday, August 13 at 12:15 pm, Room 206, Samuel Kersten Jr. Physics Teaching Center at the U. of Chicago. More information is here.
Join us for either event or both, but don’t forget to pre-order your copy of Being as Communion now, when you can still take advantage of the steep 34% pre-publication discount (available to U.S. residents only). Yes, that includes shipping!