Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id NAA19111 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Wed, 2 May 2001 13:59:24 +0100 Date: Wed, 2 May 2001 13:52:05 +0100 To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Information Message-ID: <20010502135205.C582@ii01.org> References: <003601c0cdfc$a106bd40$f5e3adcb@oemcomputer> <Pine.WNT.4.21.0104281650090.274-100000@C157775-A.frndl1.wa.home.com> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Disposition: inline User-Agent: Mutt/1.3.15i In-Reply-To: <Pine.WNT.4.21.0104281650090.274-100000@C157775-A.frndl1.wa.home.com>; from market@cc.wwu.edu on Tue, May 01, 2001 at 06:27:19PM -0700 From: Robin Faichney <robin@ii01.org> Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
On Tue, May 01, 2001 at 06:27:19PM -0700, TJ Olney wrote:
>
> Information is a system phenomenon dealing with difference.
Information is whatever we use the word to refer to. To be dogmatic
about definitions is futile.
> Shannon-Weaver
> type "information" is sometimes information, sometimes not.
You mean that usage sometimes conforms to your prefered usage, sometimes
not.
> It is
> unfortunately another "logical type" problem to consider states as
> information without reference to something for which the state makes a
> difference.
I don't know what you mean by "'logical type' problem", but the utility
of using "information" more widely than that is very clear if you look
into it. Or consider this: does any material thing not inform anyone
who studies it? It does not refer to anything other than itself,
but it is the absolute ultimate authority on itself. This view is
the basis of Roy Frieden's work as mentioned in the message I sent
earlier today. And there are other reasons for considering material
structure as information -- ask any physicist. Yes, this is different
from the more common concept, but the similarities are so important that
any risk of confusion is far outweighed. There is more on this on my
webpages "Physical Information" http://www.ii01.org/physics.html and
"Psychological Information" http://www.ii01.org/psych.html
-- Robin Faichney Get your Meta-Information from http://www.ii01.org (CAUTION: contains philosophy, may cause heads to spin)=============================================================== This was distributed via the memetics list associated with the Journal of Memetics - Evolutionary Models of Information Transmission For information about the journal and the list (e.g. unsubscribing) see: http://www.cpm.mmu.ac.uk/jom-emit
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