[Fis] definitions of information by Theil (1972) derived from Shnnon (1948); back to the basics?

Mariusz Stanowski stanowskimariusz at wp.pl
Sun Jan 29 12:25:49 CET 2023


Dear All,

A lot of the confusion about definitions of fundamental terms such as 
information is due to the transfer of terms found at a higher (human) 
level of complexity to a lower (more fundamental) level. Hence the 
variety of definitions of these concepts, which sometimes contradict 
each other. At the lower level, these terms become equivalent because 
there is less differentiation needed, e.g. in the micro world there is 
no longer a sender and a receiver, we are dealing only with 
interactions. Also *information, form, feature, structure, object, 
anything that can be distinguished *- are all equivalent at the basic 
level.

This also applies to physical theories that try to get to the roots of 
the universe by creating complicated theories such as big bang, string 
theory or multiverse. What the theorists fail to notice is that 
complication does not bring us closer but further away from reaching the 
foundations. To reach this level, it is essential to use the minimum 
necessary concepts with which one can describe the universe. Such a 
simplest model is the binary model, on which basically everything can be 
explained/understood. An example of such a binary model is Binary Model 
of Universe, which is simply a *binary structure* (only zeros and ones). 
On this model it is also easy to understand what information is: *it is 
any (distinguishable) regularity of zeros and ones.*

Best regards

Mariusz*
*

*
*

W dniu 26.01.2023 o 06:28, Francesco Rizzo pisze:
> Dear Mariuzs, Nikita and all. When I intervene in the discussion, I 
> never claim to possess the truth, but I tend to contribute to forming 
> the process of possible truth by taking into account everyone's 
> contribution. I have repeatedly supported the need to have: - 
> a general conception of knowledge based on the triad: meaning, 
> information, communication;- a particular measurement-evaluation 
> applied in the various natural and human knowledge. as a 
> quantum-semiological economist, economy like physics are sciences 
> based on the value of form or the form of value (even Ettore 
> Maiorana, the late physicist, thought so). So these two sciences are a 
> matter of form, not of (material) substance. If this is the case, 
> information presupposes meaning and is the prerequisite for 
> communication. . What interaction can there be between a stone and a 
> tree, a car and a poem, a  star and an ant, etc.? In fact, between two 
> machines there can only be a transmission of signals with a common 
> code, while the communication process between human beings it is a 
> transmission of meaning based on the interaction of signs (such as, 
> for example, the economic market) involving a lexical code of the 
> issuing source different from the lexical code of the 
> recipient recipient. I have already said more than I thought I would 
> write, because I'm busy writing an important book, at least for me. 
> However, let us never forget that knowledge is a process based on love 
> or on acceptance of the other (thought), while not sharing it. A 
> hug-Francesco.
>
> Cari Mariuzs, Nikita e tutti.
> quando intervengo nella discussione non pretendo mai di possedere la 
> verità, ma protendo a contribuire
> a formare il processo della verità possibile tenendo conto del 
> contributo di tutti. Più volte ho sostenuto
>  la necessità di avere:
>  - una  concezione generale della conoscenza basata sulla triade: 
> significazione, informazione, comunicazione;
> - una misurazione-valutazione particolare applicate nelle diverse 
> conoscenze naturali e umane.
> In questo senso, non posso non ricordare che, nella qualità di 
> economista quantista-semio-logico, l'economia
> come la fisica sono delle scienze fondate sul valore della forma o la 
> forma del valore (anche Ettore Maiorana, il fisico
> scomparso, la pensava così). Quindi queste due scienze sono una 
> questione di forma, non di sostanza (materiale).
> Se le cose stanno così l'informazione presuppone il significato ed è 
> il presupposto della comunicazione.
> Si può parlare di interazione nella comunicazione e di differenza o 
> contrasto nell'informazione. Che interazione
> vi può essere tra una pietra e un albero, una macchina e una 
> poesia, una  stella e una formica, etc.?
> Difatti, tra due macchine vi può essere solo una trasmissione di 
> segnali con un codice comune, mentre
> il processo comunicativo tra esseri umani è una trasmissione di senso 
> basato sull''interazione di segni
> (come, ad esempio,  il mercato economico) implicante un codice-lessico 
> della fonte emittente diverso dal codice-lessico
>  del destinatario ricevente.
> Già ho detto più di quanto pensavo di scrivere, perchè sono impegnato 
> nella conclusione della scrittura di un libro
> importante, almeno per me. Comunque non dimentichiamo mai che la 
> conoscenza è un processo fondato sull'amore o
> sull'accettazione dell'altro (pensiero), pur non condividendolo.
> Un abbraccio-
> Francesco.
>
> Il giorno mer 25 gen 2023 alle ore 21:18 Nikita Shklovskiy 
> <nikitashk at gmail.com> ha scritto:
>
>
>     Dear colleagues!
>     It seems to me that the general concept of information can be
>     obtained in the form of an axiom. This can be done by adding two
>     more concepts to the definition: “language system” and “meaning”.
>     In the case of the definition “information is everything that the
>     sender emits that the recipient can interpret”, four additional
>     definitions will have to be introduced for the concepts “sender”,
>     “receiver”, “radiates”, “interprets”.
>
>     Efim Lieberman in 1972 realized the need to take into account the
>     actions spent on calculations in all biological cells
>     https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2022.104653__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!SbA7_i44m5sw7BzJo4Vz__Jxz0TTqaGo8-Nq5vPExZGj533V1_x6rIqtl2X9EjX5HsESZKx0b-WMqyBaSSWXPAJ79pfs$ 
>     <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://doi.org/10.1016/j.biosystems.2022.104653__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!RnOEih8sgWzPRFRCWueR81K14O1xTQkUPMFOGyIS_e3Qqoj80tIU3rGT-kvAHkPBy0yw5FbjkjoGfol-47zh$>
>
>     In this paradigm, it is clear that information does not exist
>     without material carriers - code elements.
>
>     For all the cells of the world, we have one language system, which
>     is called "Genetic Language". This is a special case of the
>     well-defined information written on the DNA that created the
>     entire Biosphere.
>     Another special case is the language system of human language -
>     this information formed the Noosphere.
>
>     The general axiomatic definition turns out to be triple and
>     looped: “information is something from which a language system can
>     derive meaning; meaning is what the language system extracts from
>     information, and the language system is what extracts meaning from
>     information.” As in the Christian Trinity, these three concepts
>     are “consubstantial and indivisible.”
>
>
>     вт, 24 янв. 2023 г. в 10:34, konstantin lidin <lidinkl at hotmail.com>:
>
>         Thank you, Howard.
>         Your definition of information practically coincides with
>         Shannon's definition, only elementary (sub-elementary)
>         particles act as inductors and recipients.
>         In the next step, however, this approach leads us to the
>         notion of information quality. A message can contain both a
>         signal (relevant information) and noise. But the notion of
>         relevance of information is subjective. Relevance is
>         compliance with the goals that the inductor-recipient pair
>         sets when exchanging information.
>         Do you think quarks and protons have goals and free will?
>         This is a very important question, because in most areas,
>         except for the Shannon theory of communication, the quality of
>         information is ignored. The subjectivity of this parameter
>         looks too shocking to include it in a decent academic model
>         (about the same way the Heisenberg uncertainty principle is
>         still perceived)
>         ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>         *From:* Howard Bloom <howlbloom at aol.com>
>         *Sent:* 24 January 2023 08:21
>         *To:* lidinkl at hotmail.com <lidinkl at hotmail.com>;
>         fis at listas.unizar.es <fis at listas.unizar.es>;
>         loet at leydesdorff.net <loet at leydesdorff.net>
>         *Subject:* Re: [Fis] definitions of information by Theil
>         (1972) derived from Shnnon (1948); back to the basics?
>         the definition of information in my book The God Problem: How
>         a Godless Cosmos Creates:
>
>             information is anything a sender emits that a receiver can
>             interpret.
>
>
>         the first information appears when the first quarks emerge in
>         the first 10-34 of a second of the big bang.  quarks read each
>         other's social signals of attraction or repulsion and acted on
>         them to gang up in groups of two or three, thus forming
>         protons and neutrons, which also gave off social signals and
>         agglomerated in proton-neutron teams.
>
>         with warmth and oomph--howard
>
>
>         -----Original Message-----
>         From: konstantin lidin <lidinkl at hotmail.com>
>         To: fis at listas.unizar.es <fis at listas.unizar.es>; Loet
>         Leydesdorff <loet at leydesdorff.net>
>         Sent: Mon, Jan 23, 2023 1:31 pm
>         Subject: Re: [Fis] definitions of information by Theil (1972)
>         derived from Shnnon (1948); back to the basics?
>
>         Unfortunately, Shannon's definition can only be used in a very
>         narrow class of cases. When we consider any process other than
>         the transmission of a message from the inductor to the
>         recipient, this definition does not work.
>         The most authoritative researchers of the philosophy of
>         information admit that there is still no general definition.
>         The concepts of information in different spheres differ
>         significantly and cannot be combined into something commonly used
>         Baumgaertner, B., Floridi, L. Introduction: The Philosophy of
>         Information. /Topoi/ *35*, 157–159 (2016).
>         https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-016-9370-7__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!SbA7_i44m5sw7BzJo4Vz__Jxz0TTqaGo8-Nq5vPExZGj533V1_x6rIqtl2X9EjX5HsESZKx0b-WMqyBaSSWXPMm8SK6D$ 
>         <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://doi.org/10.1007/s11245-016-9370-7__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!SXg13tbkdIexlHicpgmmFoFwIcpgeHl3c2rgtD9HsQHuKRQodSQhjWMYAL-3r-YyBOXRc3vMzQUkPXSVFHs$>
>         ------------------------------------------------------------------------
>         *From:* Fis <fis-bounces at listas.unizar.es> on behalf of Loet
>         Leydesdorff <loet at leydesdorff.net>
>         *Sent:* 23 January 2023 23:29
>         *To:* fis at listas.unizar.es <fis at listas.unizar.es>
>         *Subject:* [Fis] definitions of information by Theil (1972)
>         derived from Shnnon (1948); back to the basics?
>         Theil (1972) pp. 1 and 2:
>         */1.1. /**/Information/*
>         Consider an event /E /with probability /p; / the nature of the
>         event is irrele­vant. At some point in time we receive a
>         reliable message stating that /E /in fact occurred. The
>         question is: How should one measure the amount of information
>         conveyed by this message?
>         /Information/
>         Since the question is vague, we shall try to answer it in an
>         intuitive manner. Suppose that /p /is close to 1 (e.g., /p =
>         /.95). Then, one may argue, the message conveys very little
>         information, because it was virtually certain that /E w/ould
>         take place. But suppose that /p = .01, /so that it is almost
>         certain /E /will not occur. If /E /nevertheless does occur,
>         the message stating this will be unexpected and hence contains
>         a great deal of information.
>
>         These intuitive ideas suggest that, if we want to measure the
>         information derived from a message in terms of the probability
>         /p /that prevailed before or to the arrival of the message, we
>         should select a /decreasing /function. The function proposed
>         by SHANNON (1948) is when the probability prior to the message
>         is zero) to 0 (zero information when the probability is one).
>
>         The unit of information is determined by the base of the
>         logarithm. Frequently 2 is used as a base, which implies that
>         any message concerning a 50-50 event has unit information: h()
>         = log _2 2 = 1, and information is then said to be measured in
>         binary digits or, for short, /bits. /When natural logarithms
>         are used, the information unit is a /nit. /
>         /
>         /
>         /best, loet/
>         /
>         /
>         *_______________*
>         *Loet Leydesdorff*
>         *
>         *
>         *"The Evolutionary Dynamics of Discusive Knowledge"
>         <https://urldefense.com/v3/__https://link.springer.com/book/10.1007/978-3-030-59951-5__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!UCpI3A8EWvaVDmOuc9hvIQ63G4mDCTSSAo-msd5Fp1s28PF75NWu969e_W5KiezGFeMPMGFtXsQLLuhNS00$>(Open
>         Access)*
>         Professor emeritus, University of Amsterdam
>         Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR)
>         loet at leydesdorff.net ; https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.leydesdorff.net/__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!SbA7_i44m5sw7BzJo4Vz__Jxz0TTqaGo8-Nq5vPExZGj533V1_x6rIqtl2X9EjX5HsESZKx0b-WMqyBaSSWXPBN78UG0$ 
>         <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://www.leydesdorff.net/__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!UCpI3A8EWvaVDmOuc9hvIQ63G4mDCTSSAo-msd5Fp1s28PF75NWu969e_W5KiezGFeMPMGFtXsQLGpM1vg4$>
>
>         https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ych9gNYAAAAJ&hl=en__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!SbA7_i44m5sw7BzJo4Vz__Jxz0TTqaGo8-Nq5vPExZGj533V1_x6rIqtl2X9EjX5HsESZKx0b-WMqyBaSSWXPEKMQNv4$ 
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>         ORCID: https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7835-3098__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!SbA7_i44m5sw7BzJo4Vz__Jxz0TTqaGo8-Nq5vPExZGj533V1_x6rIqtl2X9EjX5HsESZKx0b-WMqyBaSSWXPKC2ZlHE$ 
>         <https://urldefense.com/v3/__http://orcid.org/0000-0002-7835-3098__;!!D9dNQwwGXtA!UCpI3A8EWvaVDmOuc9hvIQ63G4mDCTSSAo-msd5Fp1s28PF75NWu969e_W5KiezGFeMPMGFtXsQLH5t9V6o$>;
>
>
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