Message-Id: <3.0.3.32.19990308195924.006a401c@dynsys.com>
Date: Mon, 08 Mar 1999 19:59:24 -0800
To: memetics@mmu.ac.uk
From: Alex Bennet <sbennet@dynsys.com>
Subject: Re: information transmission
In-Reply-To: <B0001534840@hamextw01.htcomp.net>
At 04:59 PM 3/6/99 -0600, you wrote:
>Alex,
>
>>I think you could not do without the concept of [information]
transmission. ..
>
>Based on the reaction of others, this is a common reaction.
What a fascinating response to consider memetically (or is it memeticly
speaking?) Claude Shannon (circa 1948) was the first person to use the
term information theory ... he also created and defined the term "bit" and
developed a mathematical theory of communication. Shannon's communication
model focusses on the transmittion of information from one place to
another, and while he does use the terms source, message, transmitter,
signal, noise, receiver, etc., he defines communication as "the process
through which one mind influences another". He considered the encoding and
decoding of messages as a social process which involved human
relationships, individual beliefs and past experiences.
His theory talks about the unusual behavior of information ... that its
value can increase when it is selectively share, that it does not
depreciate with use (except maybe over time), and that you can give it away
without giving it up. INFORMATION IS DEFINED AS A DIFFERENCE IN
MATTER-ENERGY THAT AFFECTS UNCERTAINTY IN A SITUATION WHERE A CHOICE EXISTS
AMONG A SET OF ALTERNATIVES IN A DECISION-MAKING SITUATION, i.e.,
information is decreased decision making. (This model was based on Ludwig
Boltzmann's equation for entropy (circa 19th century).
What is fascinating about this work, is that despite Shannon's reference to
a transmitter/receiver in his linear model, his definition of communication
deals with influence and his discussion of information very clearly talks
about energy changes, neither of which need to accompany the actual
transmission of information in the sense of sender-receiver exchange, and
can easily be applied to the concept of recreation. From Shannon's view,
the matter of energy is a transmission (an acoustic wave, etc.) from one
place to another, but at the point of "receipt" it is transformed into a
different form of matter/energy, i.e. creation of a new form of
matter/energy.
When a thought incurs in your mind (information), it has a certain form of
matter/energy such as the 3 dimensional gestalt patterns discussed in Susan
Greenwood's book on neuroscience and when received by a human that same
information may take a different form of 3 dimensional gestalt patterns in
the "receiver's" mind, i.e., from 3 dimensional gestalt pattern in one mind
to acoustical pressure waves (talking) to electrical signals which in turn
generate different 3 dimensional gestalt patterns in the "receiver's" brain.
There appear to be some very interesting parallels with our
data-information-knowledge-wisdom models of today, as we struggle to each
define the creation (or recreation?) of knowledge, focusing knowledge
creation primarily within the individual. This approach is leading us to
put larger effort on building context and determining approachs to bring
what's implicit to the explicit level. Similarly, a new model of
communication which focuses on creation/recreation refocusses us on the
value of context, etc.
Getting caught up in this tangent, if I took a piece of "knowledge" and had
a million people recreat that knowledge, would the emergent pattern be
related to the laws of genetic mutations, i.e., random? Have we any data
on the statistical patterns of meme replication? And, while I'm asking,
what are the sources of the laws of genetics (physical, chemical, etc.)?
Probably enough for one sitting.
Alex Bennet
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