# Gpuccio: Functional Information Methodology

**URL:** <https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/gpuccio-functional-information-methodology/7549>\
**Category:** Conversation\
**Tags:** Science, Design\
**Created:** [August 25, 2019, 1:33am UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/gpuccio-functional-information-methodology/7549 "2019-08-25T01:33:24Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 1\
**Showing post:** 80

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**Author:** ![gpuccio](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/g/47e85d/32.png) [@gpuccio](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/u/gpuccio)\
**Post date:** [August 26, 2019, 10:36pm UTC](https://discourse.peacefulscience.org/t/gpuccio-functional-information-methodology/7549/80 "2019-08-26T22:36:08Z")

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> [@Art](#):
>
> I would note that the bits calculated in this cited essay cannot be equated with bits derived from either BLAST analyses or the equation for FI that has been given above. They are quite completely different, and the calculation in the essay simply does not provide a bit-based estimate of probabilistic resources.

Why not?

I have considered the probabilistic resources of our planet as a higher threshold of the number of possible states visited by a super population of bacteria inhabiting our planet for 5 billion years and reproducing at a very high rate.

This is of course an exaggeration, and a big one, but the idea is correct, I believe. The probabilistic resources of a systerm are the number of states that can be randomly reached. It is similar to the number of times that i can toss a coin. They can be expressed as bits, just taking the positive log2 of the total number of states.

So, if I have a sequence that has a FI of 500 bits, it means that there is a probability of 1:2^500 to get it in one random attempt. If my system has probabilistic resources of 120 bits (IOWs, 2^120 states can be reached), the probability of reaching the target using the whole probabilistic resources is still 1:2^380.

What’s wrong with that?

Of course, as I have said, the Blast bitscore is not the FI. But, provided that the conditions I have listed are satisfied, it is a good estimator of it. Look also at my answer to glipsnort, that I have just published.

Please, let me know what you think. Thank you. 🙂

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