Non-living (rocks, etc.) and dead things in nature do not successfully communicate. Living things do.
The horse as an autonomous living thing was no longer successfully communicating, the horse was dead. However, some bacteria, fleas etc. may still have been successfully communicating autonomously inside or on the dead horse's head.
Indeed, along the way to death of the horse, some molecular machinery may have been alive while others were dead.
That is another neat thing about the Shannon model - it is completely transportable because it is mathematics. It doesn't matter if you are talking about molecular machinery, bacteria, bacterial spores, colonies of army ants, the biosphere, artificial intelligence, computing, postal service, radio, tv etc.
Autonomy and broadcast are built into the model.
The unreasonable effectiveness of mathematics (Wigner) is like God's copyright notice on the cosmos.
The existence of purpose in nature can also be seen that way.
So can the existence of information (successful communication.)
Jesus' Name is Logos and I AM. And He spoke everything into being. And He speaks to us now.
Any non Earth type life form would, as a necessity, need to be an organization of molecules that consumed energy to maintain and replicate its own molecular structure.
It is quite simply a requirement of physics that life must be organized, and that organization can only come about by consuming energy.
The problem with the Shannon postulate is that it doesn’t actually convey any useful information about what life is.
Dead things can convey MUCH information. Ever hear of an autopsy? Ever watch CSI?
Outstanding analogy by which to explain the Shannon theory, dearest sister in Christ and gently suggest that allmendream may have a "category problem."
Thank you so very much for your excellent essay/post!