Received: by alpheratz.cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk id CAA20744 (8.6.9/5.3[ref pg@gmsl.co.uk] for cpm.aca.mmu.ac.uk from fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk); Thu, 3 May 2001 02:17:18 +0100 Message-ID: <3AF0B02C.605EB5F@wehi.edu.au> Date: Thu, 03 May 2001 11:11:07 +1000 From: wilkins <wilkins@wehi.EDU.AU> Organization: The Walter & Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research X-Mailer: Mozilla 4.76C-CCK-MCD (Macintosh; U; PPC) X-Accept-Language: en,pdf To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk Subject: Re: Information References: <3AED8233.15786.6E25AE@localhost>; <20010501175304.A1297@ii01.org> <3AEEB6DE.18806.39FF8D@localhost> <20010502094920.A752@ii01.org> Content-Type: text/plain; charset=us-ascii Content-Transfer-Encoding: 7bit Sender: fmb-majordomo@mmu.ac.uk Precedence: bulk Reply-To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
Robin Faichney wrote:
>
.....
> According to Roy Frieden, the laws of physics are generated by the
> attempt to minimize the difference between an entity or system's own,
> physical information, and the information that physicists can obtain
> about it. This account does not get awfully technical, at least as
> regards physics---we've just gone as deep into Frieden's work as we're
> going to go---but this distinction he draws is vital: between physical
> information, which exists for its own sake, and the more usual sort,
> information that's about something.
> (From http://www.ii01.org/physics.html)
It seems to me there are really only four relevant sense of
"information" here:
1. the Fisher Information account of measurement that Frieden proposes
2. The Shannon-Weaver account that makes information of a sequence its
(prior) probability of being encountered
3. The Kolmogorov-Chaitin account that makes information the minimal
message length of a sequence, or the shortest algorithm that can
generate a sequence, whichever version one prefers; and
4. the semiotic or intentional account of the Peircians, Meinongians and
other representationalists.
So far as memetics is concerned, only the first three are relevant (it
matters not a whit is the information being transmitted is true,
coherent or in any way of significance to any audience, so long as it
spreads through a population).
If something is a measurement of some state distinct from the observer,
then that information (ie, the error implicit in the measurement) is a
physical mapping of what's in the head to what's in the world. However,
it fails to be memetic information until it is transmitted, and then
senses 2 and 3 come into play, so we can ignore the two extremes:
"objective" information in the sense of accuracy of measurement, and
"subjective" information in terms of what something means within the
head of a semantically or semiotically capable system (ie, some person)
and concentrate instead on the dynamics of information transmission and
the evolution of the signals so transmitted.
My $0.02
-- John Wilkins, Head, Communication Services, The Walter and Eliza Hall Institute of Medical Research, Melbourne, Australia Homo homini aut deus aut lupus - Erasmus of Rotterdam <http://www.users.bigpond.com/thewilkins/darwiniana.html>=============================================================== 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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