Hi,
I made an error in Table 1 of my post dated 8/21/2015 (reproduced below):
I wrongly associated Information only with Abstract Input or Output and
Energy only with Physical Input or Output. To the extent that inputs and
outputs, either abstract or physical, participate in a construction task,
to that extent they must be driven (or caused) by both Energy and
Information. This conclusion follows from the Gnergy Principle of
Organization (GPO) [2, p. 28], according to which all organized processes
(both self-organized such as the human brain and other-organized such as a
computer [2, p.17]) in the Universe, including the four types of
constructions in Table 1, absolutely must dissipate *Energy* under the
control of *Information.*
The modified Table 1 is shown below:
*Table 1.* Deutsch’s classification of the four types of “construction
tasks that involve information” [1]. The terms in the parentheses are my
additions.
Output
Abstract (*A*)
Physical (*P*)
Input
Abstract (*A*)
*Computation*(*A* to *A* task)
(*Energy, Information*)
*Preparation*
(*A* to *P* task)
(*Energy, Information*)
Physical (*P*)
*Measurement*(*P* to *A* task)
(*Energy, Information*)
*Other Construction*
(*P* to *P* task)
(*Energy, Information*)
It is interesting to note that the original table of Deutsch [1] emphasized
the role of Information in construction tasks without mentioning or
implicating the fundamental role of Energy. In contrast, the modified
table shown above explicitly implicates both *Energ*y and *Information* in
construction tasks, in agreement with GPO [2, p. 28].
All the best.
Sung
---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Sungchul Ji <[email protected]>
Date: Fri, Aug 21, 2015 at 6:02 PM
Subject: Constructor Theory of Information (CTI) as a physical theory of
semiosis
To: PEIRCE-L <[email protected]>
Hi,
We would all agree that the *sign* and *information* are intimately
related. So it would not be surprising if there exists a theoretical
connection between any theory of information, including CTI, and Peircean
semiotics. The purpose of this post is to suggest that Deutsch's CTI is a
physical theory of semiosis, although he never used the term "semiosis" nor
"semiotics" in his writings, to the best of my knowledge.
(1) “Constructor theory seeks to express all fundamental scientific
theories in terms of a dichotomy between *possible *and *impossible*
physical transformations – those that can be caused to happen and those
that cannot.” [1, p.1]. In other words, the *constructor theory* is about
the principles determining which transformations, both abstract and
physical, are possible which are not and why [1].
(2) “ . . . anything that can cause transformations in physical systems
without undergoing any net change in its ability to do so” is defined as a
constructor and the transformation caused by such a constructor is called
“construction” or “construction task” [1]:
constructor
Construction: input state of substrate(s) -------------------> output
state of substrate(s)”
(3) I believe that the laws of physics and informatics allow us to
recognize two kinds of *causes* that are essential for a constructor to
bring about a *desired transformation* in physical systems – (a) the
*energy-based
cause*, i.e., the classical causality, and (b) the *information-based cause*,
also called ‘codality’ in [2]. The former is irreversible due to energy
dissipation needed to drive physical transformations, and the latter is
reversible in that the information encoded in the constructor can be used
repeatedly without any dissipation (see (2) above).
(4) Under the section heading “Generalizing computation” in [1], Deutsch
divides *construction tasks* into four classes:
“Other construction tasks involving information are *measurement *(in which
a physical system is an input and the desired output is information about
the system) and *preparation* (in which the desired output is a physical
system meeting a criterion specified in input). So we have the following
classifications" (which is an adopted version of the original table on p.
14 in [1]):
*Table 1.* Deutsch’s classification of the four types of “construction
tasks that involve information” [1]. The terms in the parentheses are my
additions.
Output
Abstract (*Information*)
Physical (*Energy*)
Input
Abstract (*A*)
(*Information*)
*Computation *(*A* to *A* task)
*Preparation*
(*A* to *P* task)
Physical (*P*)
(*Energy*)
*Measurement *(*P* to *A* task)
*Other Construction*
(*P* to *P* task)
While three of the four phenomena in Table 1 have been extensively studied,
the lower-right one has received scant attention. It is therefore natural
to try to unify all four under a single theory: constructor theory.”
(5) *Table 2* below shows an attempt to compare Deutsch’s constructor
theory of information (see *Table 1*) and Peirce’s semiotics (see the
upper panel of *Table 2*). Three of the four construction tasks in *Table 1
*are discussed by Peirce in variable depths, but, Peirce probably did not
have the requisite knowledge in physics and molecular/cell biology in his
days to discuss the P to P task in any detail, if at all.
*Table 2.* One possible way to connect the constructor theory of
information (CTI) (see Table 1) and Peircean semiotics (upper panel) is
shown in the lower panel.
f
g
Source ------------> Message ---------- > Receiver
(Object) (Representamen) (Interpretant)
|
^
| |
|___________________________________|
h
Figure 1. *Communication* and *semiosis* as instantiations of ITR
(Irreducible triadic relations, or the 'ur-category' [7]). f = encoding; g
= decoding; h = grounding/correspondence.
A to A ---|
|
A to P |------ Peircean Semiotics*---|
| |
P to A ----| |--- Theory of
Everything (TOE)
|
(e.g., CTI [1], cybersemiotics [2],
|
gnergetics** [3, 4, 5])
P to P |------- Physics -----------------|
*It may be justified to divide *semiotics* into two branches – *the
Peircean semiotics* based primarily on the writings of Peirce (1839-1914)
and *semiotics* that is based on the writings of both Peirce and others,
both before (e.g., Poinsot) and after Peirce.
**Defined as the *science of information *(gn-)* and energy *(-ergy) viewed
as the complementary aspects of *gnergy.*
(6) Evidence-based theories able to account for all of the four
construction tasks of Deutsch and Marletto may be defined as the theory of
everything (TOE). As of now, I can recognize at least three mutually
complementing candidates for TOE, namely, CTI, cybersemiotics, and
gnergetics (see the lower panel of Table 2), and there may be many more
candidates emerging in the coming decades as human knowledge expands
rapidly facilitated by the Internet.
All the best.
Sung
--
Sungchul Ji, Ph.D.
Associate Professor of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology
Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy
Rutgers University
Piscataway, N.J. 08855
732-445-4701
www.conformon.net
*References:*
[1] Deutsch, D. (2012). Constructor Theory.
arXiv.org/ftp/arxiv/1210/1210.7439.pdf downloaded on 1/1/2015.
[2] Ji, S. (2012). Molecular Theory of the Living Cell: Concepts,
Molecular Mechanisms, and Biomedical Applications. Springer, New York. P.
93. . PDF available at http://www.conformon.net under Publications > Book
Chapters.
[3] Brier, S. (2011). Cybersemiotics: A New Foundation for
Transdisciplinary Theory of Information, Cognition, Meaning, Communication
and Consciousness. Sign 5: 75-120.
[4] Ji, S. (1985). The Bhopalator – A Molecular Model of the Living Cell
Based on the Concpets of Conformons and Dissipative Structures.
<http://www.conformon.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/05/Bhopalator_11.pdf> *J.
theoret. Biol. **116**:*399-426.
[5] Ji, S. (1991). A Biological Model of the Universe: The
Shillongator.
<http://www.conformon.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/10/Shillongator.pdf>
In: *Molecular
Theories of Cell Life and Death*. (Ji, S., ed.). Rutgers University Press,
New Brunswick. Pp. 152-163 & 230-237.
[6] Ji, S. (2004). Semiotics of Life: A Unified Theory of Molecular
Machines, Cells, the Mind, Peircean Signs, and the Universe based on the
Principle of Information-Energy Complementarity.
<http://www.conformon.net/wp-content/uploads/2012/12/SOLManuscriptsubmitted_final_downloaded_from_Taragona_09032011_modified_07282012.pdf>
In:
Reports, Research Group on Mathematical Linguistics, XVII Tarragona Seminar
on Formal Syntax and Semantics, Rovira i Virgili University, Tarragona,
23-27 April 2003. PDF available at http://www.conformon.net under
Publications > Proceedings & Abstracts.
[7] Ji, S. (2014). Ur-category accommodates Peirce's tychism and
evolutionary cosmology. [biosemiotics:6360] dated 8/5/2014.
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