Colleagues,
Again a few sporadic remarks. We are always, as it
seems to me, entangled in the matter-information frame of thinking. Why do not
we simply take that matter as such presents itself to us only as
information and through information (please give counterexamples if you want).
Hence, matter (biological, non-biological,
whatever) is a derivative concept, for we can speculate about it only indirectly
through information we possess. A good "falsifying" example is given by the
General Theory of Relativity, which explicitly prohibits distinguishing cases of
accelerated movement and movement in the gravity field.
Hence, much of what we used to call "matter" is, in
fact, enveloped in the concept of information, as well as much more.
As to the Shannon and/or Boltsmann
probabilistic information, this is not information as such but a certain
variable, used to measure information. It is the same as for measurements of
matter we use such variables as weight, volume, density and so on.
We should more clearly separate what is the subject
proper, and what are our speculations about it, our models of it and our
suggestions on how to weigh it.
Otherwise we are little better than the student,
which once gave me the following definition: "The Energy Concervation Law EQUALS
a sum of kinetic and potential energy".
Now about measures of information. When we talk
physical, Shannon-Boltzmann definition kind of works -- again not as definition
but as the way to measure, evaluate, estimate. A little deviation, for example
the information contained in a certain text, and we are at a loss. Why? Because
we can measure
a) The "bit" information content
(Shannon)
b) A multitude of information contents based on
different dictionaries.
c) Object-specific impact of information. A very
short phrase, containing a few bits of information, may throw up or down the
whole stock market (then this information impact is measured in billions of
dollars) or get a nation into war (then the impact is measured in damage and
loss of lives). A very long citation from "Catch-22" will certainly not have the
same impact.
And to reiterate again. We are talking about
information as a concept, or as a variable? If we talk variable, we should be
aware of the above listed limitations. If we talk concept, than
Shannon-Boltzmann is a misunderstanding, in the same way, as the object as a
whole and the mass of an object (in kilograms) are not the same.
Yours, Igor Rojdestvenski
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