{"id":115811,"date":"2026-04-16T16:14:03","date_gmt":"2026-04-16T22:14:03","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/?p=115811"},"modified":"2026-04-16T16:14:03","modified_gmt":"2026-04-16T22:14:03","slug":"thoughts-from-the-information-age","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.patheos.com\/blogs\/danpeterson\/2026\/04\/thoughts-from-the-information-age.html","title":{"rendered":"Thoughts from the “Information Age”"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<\/head>

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\"BYU-Idaho<\/a>
The Thomas E. Ricks Memorial Gardens at Brigham Young University-Idaho, where Hyrum Lewis teaches \u00a0(Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Here\u2019s some interesting food for thought from There is a God: How to Respond to Atheism in the Last Days<\/em>, by Hyrum Lewis, who teaches history at BYU-Idaho:<\/p>\n

From the eighteenth to twentieth centuries, Western nations passed through an industrial era in which machines took over much of humans\u2019 physical work. \u00a0Accordingly, scientists saw the universe itself as a vast machine in which everything could be understood as matter in motion. \u00a0Even our bodies were machines, and any talk of a soul was, said philosopher Gilbert Ryle, like talking of a \u201cghost in the machine.\u201d<\/p>\n

But in our current twenty-first century, post-industrial age, the most crucial component of reality is information \u2014 something that is decidedly nonmaterial. \u00a0The thinking machines (computers) that underlie this new age, while physical, are nothing without the organizing software that makes all of their activity possible. \u00a0Most of the valuable and real commodities that Americans produce today are not even tangible \u2014 including designs, algorithms, soft-copy documents, programs, plans, and spreadsheets. \u00a0We cannot touch them. \u00a0They are series of binary code that travel wirelessly through the air and are only discernible on electronic screens. \u00a0There are billions of machines on the planet (computers) with nonmaterial \u201cghosts\u201d in them (software). \u00a0Ryle ridiculed the idea of \u201cghosts in the machine\u201d while on the very cusp of the new information age in which \u201cghost-animated\u201d machines would transform the world.<\/p>\n

Not only is information more fundamental than matter when it comes to computers, but scientists are now finding that information is even at the root of physics and biology. \u00a0DNA is an information code that precedes and determines the organization of the matter that makes up living bodies. \u00a0Atheists claim that humans are mere material beings, but most of the cells of our bodies die and are entirely replaced many times during our lives. \u00a0Atheists often say, \u201cWe don\u2019t have<\/em> a body; we are<\/em> a body.\u201d \u00a0If this is true, why do I remain the same while the matter of my body constantly changes? . . .<\/p>\n

In physics, quantum theory \u2014 developed primarily by Christians such as Max Planck and Werner Heisenberg \u2014 has shown that the atomic particles that make up all matter are themselves informational. \u00a0Electrons exist not as well-defined material entities, but only as probability smears, while the quarks that make up protons and neutrons are so information-laden that some scientists have begun comparing their properties to computer codes. \u00a0Information is how widely accepted as a third property of the universe along with matter and motion.<\/p>\n

While it\u2019s common today to use the term information<\/em>, LDS scriptures (prophetic as always) have long called it intelligence<\/em>. \u00a0(12-13)<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Stars<\/a>
A night sky over Arizona (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Posted today on the unchanging and completely static website of the Interpreter Foundation:\u00a0The Interpreter Insights Podcast<\/em> \u2014 April 16, 2026: The Closeness of Those Beyond the Veil<\/a>:<\/p>\n

In the 16 April 2026 episode of The Interpreter Insights Podcast<\/em>, Martin Tanner discusses the closeness of those beyond the veil: angels, deceased loved ones, and miracles. \u00a0Incidentally, Martin served for a number of years as the vice president of the International Association for Near-Death Studies.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

\"Evening<\/a>
An aerial view at twilight of St. Peter\u2019s Square, St. Peter\u2019s Basilica, and the Vatican (Wikimedia Commons public domain image)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Some observations on the ongoing war between the White House and Vatican City:<\/p>\n