So, are we discussing the definitions of these words “cause” and “influence” or different kinds of causes in which information causes (encoding and decoding) might be better understood publicly as “influence” because of their less singular effect (i.e., uncertain or complex relation as opposed to law-like efficient cause)?

Are we in agreement at all that there are different archetypal kinds of causes, or is cause only one type? If different kinds, how should they be distinguished?

John