[Fis] Life goes on

[Jose Javier Blanco Rivero]

Dear Pedro,
Dear FISers,

It's great to be part of this group and I hope we find a way to bring  back
old members and attract new ones.
As always, the issues proposed are pretty interesting.
The issue about narratives calls specially my attention because of my
humanist background. I only would like to bring to the forefront the
following: since keywords are becoming essential in our digital environment
in order to classify and organize knowledge, is narrative the adecuate word
to grasp what we mean?
I believe that the issue of narrative cannot do without the problems of
coding and semantics (meaning).
The three of them, although intertwined, aim at different dimensions of
communication and information. Therefore, shall we talk instead of the
tripod code, semantics, narratives or is there a more general concept in
which to subsume them?

Regarding the issues raised by Krassimir, I think that what constitutes a
discipline is the agreement on what we disagree. We all agree on the trans
disciplinary importance of information, but we disagree on what is
information, what a theory of information should account for... And so on.
I think plurality is an edge. In this guise, it would be interesting if we
cared even more for the implications and assumptions in the theories each
of us defend. For instance, I am currently thinking of a critique of
mentalist or idealist models by stressing the role of other kinds of
cognition (understood as information processing), such as social (systems)
cognition.

Best regards,

JJ
El oct 5, 2018 2:26 PM, "Pedro C. Marijuan" <pcmarijuan.iacs at aragon.es>
escribió:

> Dear FIS Colleagues,
>
> Around the beginnings of the new course, the University of Zaragoza
> released the FIS list, after the authentication process mandated by an
> European Directive on Data Protection. The outcome has been rather tough,
> from around 350 we have been decimated to just 62. Provided that the most
> active participants have renewed, we wouldn't see much changes, although
> not very probably. The pity now is the diminished broadcast of the
> discussions, for many of the passive recipients were more or less listening
> (and the warning message in Spanish didn't help at all for their awareness
> of the renewal process).
>
> In any case, life goes on. There is a ISIS and FIS Conference next year
> (in the US, chaired by Terry Deacon). In the future list discussions we
> should keep this in mind and progressively put the focus on it. The present
> "slimming cure" of the list might also be a good occasion to reflect on its
> trajectory and aims. Are we fulfilling the foundational goals? Not so much
> yet... Well, from my part, I have a novel theme that I consider of interest
> to this basic discussion. Several readings of mine during this year have
> neatly converged on the power of "narratives" in our human communication.
> From economics, to political science, to communication studies, to Media
> both traditional and new, and essentially in literature and oral
> traditions... In particular the approach by Christopher Booker (2004, 2017)
> makes clear the centrality of storytelling in our whole lives. He is a
> controversial figure, but this book ("The Seven Basic Plots: Why We Tell
> Stories") is a master work. My only personal caveat is the Jungian
> framework the author utilizes--is it necessary? I do not think so.
> Translating his ideas to common multidisciplinary language, pertaining both
> to natural science and humanities, would make for a great discussion. Right
> in the center. My feeling is that he has achieved for human communication
> what I have tried during recent years for cellular communication.
>
> And that's all! Little by little am getting used to my new life "far from
> the madding crowd" of local Faculty.
>
> Friendly regards to all,
>
> --Pedro
>
>
> -------------------------------------------------
> Pedro C. Marijuán
> Grupo de Bioinformación / Bioinformation Group
> pcmarijuan.iacs at aragon.eshttp://sites.google.com/site/pedrocmarijuan/
> -------------------------------------------------
>
>
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