physic, entropy and information

In reply to Werner, I guess we all have our own theories, and that
makes for interesting debates.

I agree with Werner that information is a result of a relation, but I
don't think it's simply a "binary relation between a sender and a
receiver" (Werner's post: May 30/02). That makes information something
akin to communication - a 'this' moving along a line from Sender to
Receiver. I don't think that communication is all that there is to
information. There is also 'cognition' - and that's a triadic process,
involving, as Christophe pointed out, a process where a system (the
'this' moving along)..is "submitted to a constraint' within the realm
of probably both the sender and the receiver.

In my view, information is 'informed mass' and is indeed a property of
a system. The transformation of free energy to bound or informed mass
is via this mass setting up measured relations with other informed
mass. That mass is then 'informed'...and its relations with other mass
are 'informational'. To reduce information to simply a package moving
from site A to site B doesn't answer my concerns about the process.

Werner states that the 'flow of information between sender and
receiver is connected with decrease of uncertainty'....and I would
translate this to say that the interaction between the two is subject
to the input of informational constraints (as Chrsitophe pointed out),
which limits the interpretation or the nature of the interaction. This
is as valid for a hydrogen atom interacting with an oxygen atom,
where the constraints of the interaction are operative within the laws
of configuration of the electron shells...as it is valid for a
biological organism where the constraints of the interaction are
operative within the normative habits of the species. That is, I am
suggesting that the interaction, which produces information, or
'informed mass', can only take place when there is a common realm of
stability between the two 'agents'. Along with the input from the
information constraints (which I call knowledge rather than
information), there will be a loss of energy...which is returned to
the field.

As for measurement of 'meaning' - if one translates meaning to mean
'informed mass'...then, it might be possible to come up with a
measurement using the theme of complexity...where a system that
processes energy-to-mass (information) using a wider variety of
measurements (not merely iconic but also indexical and also symbolic),
and at a faster speed, can measure the transformation..faster.. That's
as much as I can think of now.

As for the concept of intentionality, brought up by Christophe, I
would agree that it can't be confined to individual agent-based
intentionality, for that is a product only of the most complex
organisms. I agree with Christophe that we can consider evolution as
this act of increasing complexity - and it most certainly operates
independent of life ie, at the physico-chemical level. Mind or logic
is not a factor only of the biotic world.

Edwina Taborsky
39 Jarvis St. #318
Toronto, Ontario M5E 1Z5
(416) 361.0898
Received on Thu May 30 18:20:18 2002