old discussion

dear FISers,

The old discussion on "info phyla" might have intriguing twists. Apart of
the points discussed before Summer, there is an initial problem on what
those three categories (i.e., constitutive, generative, communicational)
represent in themselves.

The term "info phyla" (as both Tom and Igor put it) appears as a metaphor
with respect the evolutionary process: three separate branches that can be
distinguished in the info realm. But perhaps, if we take those three
categories in a more "ontological" vein, some other intriguing social and
scientific questions may surface.

Socially for instance, looking at ancient cosmologies we find that they
were often based upon those very three categories (e.g., the Catholic
mystery of "Trinity"--the three Persons in One carrying the three
disctinctions of existence, generation, communication). Of course, other
religions and cosmologies have made pretty similar statements concerning a
unified world-view.

In science, well, playing a bit with those three categories we could find
similarities with ontological assumptions underlying the terms of
"particles", "fields", "laws of nature", "instantaneous communication",
"measurement", "evolvability", etc. In evolution, I find particularly neat
the vertebrate organization of behavior (remember the discussion with Igor
on the relationship between the "two tubes": the digestive and the neuronal
one). If we now add the "sexual tube", we find that the three categories,
somehow materialized in those three "tubes", provide an almost global
organization and description of behavior.

Excuse me, please, for the wild speculations, but how could we take,
understand and use, those three info categories or info "phyla"?

best

Pedro

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Pedro C. Marijuan. TEL 34 976 761927, FAX --761861 and -- 762111
Dept. Ingen. Electronica y Comunicaciones, CPS Universidad de Zaragoza,
Maria de Luna 3, Zaragoza 50015, SPAIN
email: marijuan@posta.unizar.es
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Received on Mon Sep 20 10:01:34 1999