Information on its own discreet zeros and one's also don't have any meaning
other that the ones we attached to it.
A one in our counting system really is a mental creation only.
''One'' finger has more meaning, ''one'' finger in mum's pie has another and
"'one'' finger in mums pie and then in one's mouth another.
So a ''one'' without identity and associations is pretty meaningless. (see
mathematical category theory)
So in my opinion information is like maths it is mental creation, albeit quite
a clever when we make computing machines. Quite useless when coming to
biological organisms.
Chaitin's book Meta math really puts this concept in a nice nutshell, nice but
not very helpful when what we are trying to understand is really the creation,
creativity, creativeness, the laws of creation.
In fact there may only be meaning and nothing else.
regards
Gavin
Re: [Fis] meaningful inforamtion Hi Pedro and Anthony,
Valentino Braitenberg has a book out this year in German: Information - der
Geist in der Natur
My knowledge of German is dismal, but it seems to be about information as the
"spirit" or "mind" of nature. This would be consistent with a quotation of his
from Luciano Floridi, editor, Philosophy of Computing and Information: Five
Questions, 2008, p16:
The concept of information, properly understood, is fully sufficient to do away
with popular dualistic schemes invoking spiritual substances distinct from
anything in physics. This is Aristotle redivivus, the concept of matter and
form united in every object of this world, body and soul, where the latter is
nothing but the formal aspect of the former. The very term “information”
clearly demonstrates its Aristotelian origin in its linguistic root.
Anthony talks about form too, of course, but I'm afraid I find his concept of
"meaningful" information to be somewhat dualistic -- but maybe I just haven't
understood his view of the relationship between meaningful information and
material form.
Robin
Wednesday, July 20, 2011, 12:38:03 PM, Pedro wrote:
Thanks, Anthony, for the info on your book. As you will see during future
discussion sessions (currently we are in the vacation pause) some parties in
this list maintain positions not far away from your own views. In our archive
you can check accumulated mails about the matter you propose --e.g. discussions
during the last spring. But I think you are right that the whole biological
scope of information has been rarely discussed. best wishes ---Pedro
FIS website and discussions archives: see http://infoscience-fis.unizar.es/
aread...@verizon.net escribió:
I emailed an earlier version of the following contribution to the listserve a
few days ago and am interested in finding out if it is suitable for
dissemination and, if os, when it might be included. My main interest is in
promoting discussion about the approach it takes to dealing with the
observer-dependent aspects of information.
My book " Meaningful Information: The BridgeBetween Biology, Brain and
Behavior' has just been published by Springer. Itintroduces a radically new way
of thinking about information and the importantrole it plays in living systems.
Thiså opens up new avenues for exploring howcells and organisms change and
adapt, since the ability to detect and respondto meaningful information is the
key that enables them to receive their geneticheritage, regulate their internal
milieu, and respond to changes in their environment.The types of meaningful
information that different species and different celltypes are able to detect
are finely matched to the ecosystems in which theylive, for natural selection
has shaped what they need to know to functioneffectively within them.
Biological detection and response systems range fromthe chemical configurations
that govern genes and cell life to the relativelysimple tropisms that guide
single-cell organisms, the rudimentary
nervoussystems of invertebrates, and the complex neuronal structures of
mammals andprimates. The scope of meaningful information that can be detected
andresponded to reaches its peak in our own species, as exemplified by our
specialabilities in language, cognition, emotion, and consciousness, all of
which areexplored within this new framework.
The book's home page can be found
at: http://www.springer.com/life+sciences/evolutionary+%26+developmental+biology/book/978-1-4614-0157-5
I am eager tofind out what members think about it.
Anthony Reading
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-------------------------------------------------
Pedro C. Marijuán
Grupo de Bioinformación / Bioinformation Group
Instituto Aragonés de Ciencias de la Salud
Avda. Gómez Laguna, 25, Pl. 11ª
50009 Zaragoza, Spain
Telf: 34 976 71 3526 (& 6818) Fax: 34 976 71 5554
pcmarijuan.i...@aragon.es
http://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/
-------------------------------------------------
--
Robin Faichney
<http://www.robinfaichney.org/>
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