[betty boop]

...there is going to be more information being transmitted by a salt crystal than by a suspension of NaCl. Said which, is incapable to containing or transmitting information, because there is not way to differentiate states of it. A totally randomized system, from an information theory point of view, has NO information to transmit.

Tell me what we're disagreeing about here, dohn? I was comparing self-ordering systems (e.g., salt crystals) with self-organizing (i.e., living) systems. I wasn't comparing salt crystals with salt in suspension. But I agree with you, the crystals would contain more information than salt in suspended form and for the reason you give: while salt crystal carry less information than, say, a living cell, random systems have no information to convey at all.

Thank you so much for writing, dohn!

[donh]

self-ordering systems (e.g., salt crystals) with self-organizing (i.e., living) systems.

ok...what distinguishes the two? The analogy seems quite strong to me: from one point of view, DNA is just a more complex form of crystal, with a couple of crystal associates, that, when working together, seed self-copies. How is this different in kind from a salt crystal seed providing a surface for recursive crystal growth?