Re: [Fis] The timings of meaning

On Thu, 25 Mar 2004, Ted Goranson wrote:

> It is my impression that the reason for FIS to exist is to explore the
> relatively new idea that there is a discourse of sorts among chemical
> entities and similarly among physical ones; that the nature of the
> "information" of this discourse needs to be induced (taking out the
> human observer); and further that if some new, non-human based notion of
> information can be distilled then universal mechanics of such things as
> evolution and emergent behavior can be usefully applied across many
> disciplines.

Hello Everyone!

I'm new to this listserv and worry that I may rework some grounds that you
all have plowed before. Nevertheless, I can't resist a few words on the
issue as Ted has stated it:

For the past 30 or so years I have been engaged in the application of IT
to ecosystems flow networks. From the very outset I was struck by the want
of any necessity to invoke the communications theory format of sender-
channel- receiver. It appears that at least the Shannon formulation is
applicable in situations so removed from the cognitive scene that some
more general perspective on information must be possible -- much like
Popper generalizes physical forces as "propensities".

What has worked very well for me in studying ecosystem networks of trophic
exchanges has been the notion that information can be regarded as embedded
constraint. Without going into analytical details (e.g., J. Semiotics,
Evolution, Energy and Development. 2[1]:38-55), one can readily visualize
that within each node of the network are unspecified, hidden constraints
that channel flow toward or away from other receiver nodes. Just as in
thermodynamics it is not necessary to know the molecular details to
quantify the overall properties, one may apply Shannon measures to the
network (a weighted digraph) and quantify the overall degree of constraint
that is active in the network as a whole. (It turns out to be gauged by
the average mutual information of the flow structure [Int. J. Syst. Sci.
15: 261-270 {1984}].)

So from my perspective, at least, trying to force the flow networks into
the sender- channel- receiver- alphabet matrix would be a procrustean
exercise at best.

I'm looking forward to learning a lot on such topics from you all.

Regards,
Bob

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Robert E. Ulanowicz | Tel: (410) 326-7266
Chesapeake Biological Laboratory | FAX: (410) 326-7378
P.O. Box 38 | Email <ulan@cbl.umces.edu>
1 Williams Street | Web <http://www.cbl.umces.edu/~ulan>
Solomons, MD 20688-0038 |
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Received on Wed Mar 31 04:53:37 2004