Information as Substrate

We have egalitarian and complete access to all known information - we are bathing in the sum of human knowledge. That fact is unbelievable if you take a look at it objectively - but what do we do with it all? Answering that question is our collective life homework, so start thinking about your assignment tonight, no due date, but you should start on it soon.

Information, and the net which disseminates it cheaply and effectively, is ultimately a tool. What they are used for is up to us; I think that's part of the question of understanding any notion of progress and is also helpful in framing contemporary moral progression - essentially, how we use the tools at our hands. It is my belief that nothing is intrinsically good or bad, rather, it's what we do and think about/with things which makes it so.

To draw an analogy to what information is, and what it means for us that it is increasing exponentially, I like to use a substrate and enzyme biological comparison. I find peering into this reality tunnel to be exciting, and I think it will become a legitmate realm of scientific inquiry into the future - observing the feedback loop between information and reality construction.

I think of raw information like a substrate, by itself, of little use, but it is the material or substance on which an enzyme acts upon. By increasing the substrate concentration (information), the rate of reaction will increase due to the likelihood that the number of enzyme-substrate complexes will increase (people reacting to information); this occurs until the enzyme (us and the technology we create) becomes the limiting factor (present time?).

The more information we have , the more volatile the system will be (think the substrate relationship again). I think that is the essence, the root, of why we experience breakthroughs at an increasing rate (think about the substrate relationship again), until "the enzyme becomes the limiting factor." Although information is infinite, our capacity to understand it, assimilate it, and use it is finite - think an asymptote and decreasing marginal utility ... unless the singularity happens (not counting on that...)

For example, in the following article, technology is currently a constraint (technology is just a tangible application of information). Technology is constraining a full brain model from being built (simulating on existing microchips would generate an annual electrical bill of about $3 billion and processing power isn't good enough). However, the director of the project believes that he’ll be able to model a complete human brain on a single machine in ten years or less.
http://seedmagazine.com/content/article/out_of_the_blue/P1/