[Fis] “Meaning“ versus Functional Significance

[Loet Leydesdorff]

Dear Marcus, 

 

… Next, I further reflected on the fact that different systems derive functional significance (meaning) in very different ways. But despite those essential functional differences, as they were both truly functionally significant roles, they were truly informational.

 

This strongly suggest that information is more abstract. The “physical” is then the special case of particles and waves. (In classical physics of positions and momenta.)

 

In my opinion, such an approach is fully consistent with Shannon’s H.

 

S = k(B) * H

 

The Boltzmann constant provides the dimensionality (Joule/Kelvin) so that S is thermodynamic entropy. H is a mathematical formula. It can be used to measure your “functional significances”, cannot it?

 

Best,

Loet

 

  _____  

Loet Leydesdorff 

Professor, University of Amsterdam
Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR)

 <mailto:loet at leydesdorff.net> loet at leydesdorff.net ;  <http://www.leydesdorff.net/> http://www.leydesdorff.net/ 
Honorary Professor,  <http://www.sussex.ac.uk/spru/> SPRU, University of Sussex; 

Guest Professor  <http://www.zju.edu.cn/english/> Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou; Visiting Professor,  <http://www.istic.ac.cn/Eng/brief_en.html> ISTIC, Beijing;

Visiting Professor,  <http://www.bbk.ac.uk/> Birkbeck, University of London; 

 <http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ych9gNYAAAAJ&hl=en> http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ych9gNYAAAAJ&hl=en

 

 

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