Hi FISers!
Is the consciousness just information on a high and a complex level? Is the
consciousness just a emergent feature of the information? Is information and
consciousness basically the same thing. So we argue. Read on.
I (Sakari Ahvenainen) am a freelance researcher of information and network
based warfare. I am making my PhD (just started this year) in the Tampere
University of Technology, in its Institute of Information Management. I and
my colleague researcher Risto Korhonen have an idea of a "theory" for
"Evolutionary, networked and systemic information theory, the ENSI- theory".
We want to evaluate its basic assumption by introducing it to you. So, its
this an old idea, a bad idea or an idea to proceed?
First about the path we have tried. There are different forms of information
in the universe. First, the human information in his brains and secondly
outside his brains as a product of his brains (books, letters etc.).
Thirdly, in the life, in its DNA and cell. Fourthly, in the technology, in a
computer (also man made, but technological information may have a different
future than books (etc).
What unites these different forms of information? They are differences, that
have a meaning for their systems.
Brains: The electronic (etc.) activity of the neurons have meaning for the
brains, we guess (neither of us is a brains researcher)
Books: Letter and word have meaning for the language (and the people (their
brains)) involved.
DNA: The ATCG (adenine, thymine...) have a meaning for the DNA (protein
coding) and to the cell.
Technology: Bit or a collections of bits (a machine language instruction)
have a meaning for the computer.
The second question is what differences this different forms of information
have? This will be answered by our "theory", so we go to the basic
assumptions of our "theory":
Assumption 1 (A1) (cause and effect): There is nothing, that is not caused
by something.
Assumption 2 (A2) (multilevel systems) The existence and its systems are
multilevel systems (and systems of systems and systems of systems of systems...)
Assumption 3 (A3) (bigger systems): The existence is driven towards bigger
systems.
Assumption 4 (A4) (systems are networks): The systems of the existence are
networks and they are created by parts that have a meaning to their system
(and by their borders?)
Assumption 5 (A5) (emergence and complexity): Every new system creates and
is a new entity to the existence. If the new system is complex enough it
will create an emergent feature to the existence, that is hard to explain
through its parts and their connections. (This is actually a result from A4
(networks), but it is central to understand the new levels of the existence.
Or central for understanding how hard it is to understand or explain totally
by science and by reason complex systems. So there is a transformation:
entity that has (fully) networked, that has reached a new complexity, become
to an autocatalytical system, is transformed to something totally new, to a
new phenomenon in the existence)
Assumption 6 (A6) (information): Information is a difference that has a
meaning to its system.
Assumption 7 (A7) (general use): The above assumptions A1 - A6 are applied
in the evolution as a general feature and as a feature of smaller systems.
Some consequences (C's):
C1. There is multilevel information. Prove: The existence is a multilevel
system and its subsystems are multilevel (A2). Systems are based on parts
that have meaning for the system (A4) and information is difference that has
a meaning for its system (A6). Parts of a system are differences (obvious).
This means that a part of a system is information for the system. This means
that systems are information and this information is multilevel if the
system is multilevel.
What follows: Information is a relationship (of system's parts and its whole)
What follows: Part of a system is information for the system.
What follows: Regarding the man there could be data, information, knowledge,
understanding and wisdom. If so, it means that wisdom interprets
understanding, understanding knowledge, knowledge information and
information data (see C4). Further, if these are the levels of human
information, they are the information levels of the human brains based on A1
and that the information processing happens in the brains of the man.
What follows: There are emergent phenomenons in the multilevel structure of
information (A5). Ref. Wisdom or transformation from information (from a
book) to a knowledge of a person. Or the consciousness.
What follows: Information and matter coexists for each level of systems of
the matter.
Ref. also bit, byte, computer machine instruction, subroutines and framework
of the program.
C2. The existence is ontologically always the same, a network, but
phenomenalogically a different phenomenon at different levels of the
existence. Prove: A4 and A5 (Presented to the researchers also by Rauno
Kuusisto, although without this particular prove).
C3. There is no information without a system. Prove: A6. Also, information,
if existing, is caused by something (A1), so there is no information without
its causes (its system).
C4. The structure of the system is interpreting the lower information, the
parts of the system. Prove: Parts of a system is information for the system
(C1) and so this information has a meaning, an interpretation, for the
system (A6). Ref. (1) microprocessor, computer and its hardware, BIOS,
operating system, (2) hardware of brains, (3) car, (4) organization...
What follow: To duplicate interpreting information, one has to duplicate the
structure of the system. Ref. Microprocessor or brains or universe
What follows: If the information is a difference that has a meaning for the
system, but is not a structure, it can be duplicated depending on the nature
of the difference. Ref. a book, a bit or different state of the brains.
What follows: Information systems are very different because of their
different information interpreting structure. Ref. brains (networked,
complex and multilevel structure) or computer (linear, simpler and less
multilevel structure). And so, information is processed very differently.
C5. There is information outside human beings. Prove: Information is
dependant only on a difference (a part) and its meaning for its system (A6),
so if there is other systems than humans, there is information outside human
being. And everything consists of its part (obvious, A2 and A4), so there is
systems outside human being.
What follows: Information has not to be connected to the self consciousness
of the man.
C6. Its is difficult to trace the path from the basic elements (neurons) of
the human brains to the higher level of the brains and to the abstract
thinking of the man. Prove (?): This is true, if the process is multilevel
and every level creates an emergent phenomenon (A5), that is networked and
still creates a new emergent phenomenon that is networked and so on.
What follows: To understand human brains better, one has to find the
emergence path from networked neuron activity to the abstract thinking of
the man. The transformations from parts to the whole in this path are the
key to understand the brains.
C7. Abstract ideas or consciousness, if existing, are caused by something.
Prove: A1. A guess for a cause? The thinking man? So, is the consciousness
just an emergent phenomenon of the information at a (very) high level of
biological (human) information (A5)?
C8. The thinking man, if existing, is caused by something. Prove: A1. A
guess for a cause? Mostly his brains?
C9. The brains of the man, if existing, are caused by something. Prove: A1.
A guess for a cause? Neurons, matter and energy.
C10. Matter and energy .... (you go on).
C11: There is information to be interpreted, interpreting information and
information that has been interpreted. Prove: If there is a difference that
has a meaning for the systems, there is information to be interpreted (A6).
If there is a system, there is interpreting information, the structure of
the system (C4). If the difference has a meaning, an interpretation, for the
system, there is interpreted information (A6).
What follows: There can be multilevel information systems in which the
output of the lower level is input in the higher level. Ref. computer,
brains, organization.
C12: There is or will be higher level of information (consciousness) than
the man. Prove: A man is at some level of complexity (information system)
(obvious). The evolution is driven to more complex systems of existence
(A3). So, at some point, there will be higher level of information
(consciousness) than a man.
What follows: Is the internet a base for this process? Does this mean that
there will be the consciousness of the mankind, that is and acts as an
emergent feature in the universe? Ref. noosphere and Pierre Teilhard de Chardin.
C13: The size of the information systems of the evolution does increase.
Prove: Evolution is driven to bigger systems (A3). The new bigger systems
are new (obvious, also A5). The new bigger system is information (A4, A6).
So, the maximum size of information systems does increase in the evolution.
What follows: The information systems of the human being and that of the
technology are increasing (A7). Ref. internet and The Grid.
C14: There is no abstract thinking without a man or some higher
(information) system, that is capable to abstract thinking. Prove: If
abstract thinking does exist, it is caused by something (A1). So, there is
no abstract world of ideas without some cause.
C15: Information is order, structure of a system, opposite of chaos and
chance (Ref. Shannon, Wiener). Prove: A6, C4.
C16: Abstract is based on matter. Prove (?): If there is something abstract,
it is caused by something (A1). Abstract could be the emergent or multilevel
emergent feature of the matter, like the abstract thinking of a man.
C17: There is information that causes something and information that is
potential to cause something. Prove: Information is a difference that has a
meaning for its system (A6). Meaning means that it can cause something, but
does not have to cause anything.
What follows: Information has an information context, its interpreting
system and next there have to be an acting context, so that the information
causes something. The importance of an act. Ref. millions of sperm cell or a
book, that is not read.
C18: There is universal information. Prove: The existence is a system that
has parts (A2, A4). Parts are information, differences for the system, for
the existence. Also C1, last "What follows".
What follows: Laws of the universe.
C19 Information can be advantageous or disadvantageous. Prove: Information
is a difference that has a meaning for the system (A6). If the meaning is
advantageous or disadvantageous it is still a meaning. Ref. A gene that
makes a person super intelligent or to an imbecile. In both cases the
difference in DNA has a meaning for the person.
C20: There are two kinds of information for a system. Both are differences.
The first type of information is the parts of the system. The second are
differences outside the system that have meaning for the system. Prove: Part
of a system, see C4 If there is outside the system a difference that has a
meaning for the system, it is information (A6).
What follows: There is structural, inside, interpreting information and
input, outside, information, information to be interpreted.
And last, what are the differences of the information in brains, books,
cells and computers according to our theory? First, they are different
systems and have different parts, so their information has different
"format". Secondly and more importantly, they have different amounts of
levels of system and so different amounts of emergent features depending on
each lower level emergent features.
And about evolutionary aspect of our theory. Information in the evolution
has had steps like this:
1. Information in the laws of the universe (physics, chemistry)
2. Information in the life: DNA, cell.
3. Information in man: His brains and his abstract thinking.
4. Information in the technology: Computers and computer networks.
5. Higher level information than in the brains of the man. Wait and see!
Evolution aims to new bigger systems, so to new levels of information.
As an information and network (based warfare) researchers, we believe in
co-operation and distribution of information. So we challenge you to develop
or to crush our "theory". An old idea, a bad idea, or idea to proceed?
Regards: Sakari Ahvenainen and Risto Korhonen
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Received on Mon Sep 15 09:11:29 2003
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