An Inquiry Concerning the Persistence of Physical Information
Round 1
Reviewer 1 Report
While the paper refers to the General Theory of information, the conclusions presented are not consistent wityh what GTI says. Refer
Burgin, M.; Mikkilineni, R. Is Information Physical and Does It Have Mass? Information 2022, 13, 540. https://doi.org/10.3390/info13110540
While this reference is not cited, I believe that this paper throws much light into the topic of information. Here is my understanding of GTI.
Burgin, M.; Mikkilineni, R. Is Information Physical and Does It Have Mass? Information 2022, 13, 540. https://doi.org/10.3390/info13110540
“The general theory of information (GTI) [1, 3] states that “knowledge is related to information as the matter is related to energy” while the material structures in the physical world carry the information that represents the state and the dynamics of the structure under consideration. In the physical world, material structures are governed by the transformation laws of matter and energy. Energy has the potential to create or change material structures. All physical and chemical structures, which are created or changed by the transformation of matter and energy, obey the laws governing their transformations. All physical structures contain potential information that characterizes their structure, the functions of their constituent parts interacting with each other and with their surroundings, and their behaviors when internal and external factors cause fluctuations in their interactions. In fact, it means that there is a definite relationship between the characteristics of physical objects allowing the possibility of the conversion of mass into the energy of physical objects described by these characteristics.”
“The states of physical structures and the laws governing their evolution are described by the laws of physics as mental structures created by humans (mainly by mathematicians and physicists). Living organisms have developed physical structures that exploit the matter and energy transformations to acquire a unique identity and the ability to sense and process information that is carried by material structures and convert it into knowledge in the form of mental structures.”
It is important to realize that ontological information in the material world is carried by material structures as potential information that characterizes their structure, the functions of their constituent parts interacting with each other and with their surroundings, and their behaviors when internal and external factors cause fluctuations in their interactions. Ontological information thus the potential description of material structures and their evolution.
All the known descriptions of the material world that we are familiar with are created by observers using their cognitive apparatuses and converting information into knowedge to create world models and interact with the material world. The laws of physics, concepts of entropy, etc., are mental constructs that describe the epistemic information.
Information is the bridge between the material and mental worlds, and GTI provides tools using the ideal structures in the form of named sets (or fundamental triads) to convert ontological information into epistemic information and convert it into knowledge.
If we accept GTI, then all descriptions of material world are to be viewed in the light physics describing the epistemic view of the ontological information. In addition, observers also are able to communicate information using various physical structures (voice, symbols, etc.).
The snowflakes are explained very clearly using the theories of phase transitions, and laws of physics. Descriptions using entropy, laws of thermodynamics are all related to epistemic information about our observations of the material world. If no one observes, the ontological information about the snowflakes is not known.
Either, the GTI is acceptable, or my interpretation of GTI is not correct or the paper must be revisted after reading the paper cited.
Author Response
Please find the detailed response in the attached page.
Author Response File: 
Author Response.pdf
Reviewer 2 Report
The introduced article is original, containing clear and preciseideas.
It is important to note that that the concept of physical information as a hidden order is consistent with Burgin's General Theory!
I recomment this article for publication.
Author Response
Thank you for comments.
Yes, you are right that the conclusions of the paper agree with Mark Burgin's GTI theory
Regards and thank you
Reviewer 3 Report
Philosophies-2303785
"An Inquiry Concerning the Persistence of Physical Information"
I would find this manuscript much more interesting if it arrived at a method of interpreting, analysing or modifying the world (or universe) that actually resulted in our improved progress towards some defined goal.
It does not seem that these two statements can be simultaneously true:
Line 244: "information is equated with a snowflake's morphology"
Line 253: "Information is latent order or the potential of nature to create complex morphologies or low-entropy complexes like snowflakes under the right conditions"
As is pointed out elsewhere, a tendency to make something, and the thing that is made, are surely never identical (eg lines 265-266 and 297-301 and 9-10). However, if we eliminate the physical objects and consider information as such a latent order, one wonders why at least some groups of snowflakes are not exactly identical to each other. Perhaps the author could use a better example than snowflakes.
In summary, we are left with the idea that information cannot be said to persist as a physical form, but as a "latency" (lines 320-321), but as just pointed out, the nature of this latency is rather debatable. Thus we do not achieve a notable improvement in our ability to interpret, analyse or modify.
Author Response
Please find the detailed response in the attached page.
Author Response File: Author Response.pdf
Round 2
Reviewer 1 Report
Small typos can be checked.
For example,
"As a reminder, as we have send in the introduction in paper, any references to in formation refer to physical information, so when we discuss the persistence of information, we mean the persistence of physical information and not anything else. In the literature physical information in the sense used here is also referred to as ontological information [13][46].
Author Response
Thank You for comments.
Corrections have been applied
