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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Dear All,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>This note from Fernando clearly spells
out his universe of discourse (practical problems; everyday life). However, in
stating that </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New">> our “acts” are neither “actions” nor
“events”... Our acts are </FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face="Courier New">> phenomenological;</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>but that current information theory is only
mathematical, dealing with 'probabilities', he seems to me to be
ignoring</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>applications of information theory made by several
members of this group to real problems, that is, to the subjects</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>of science.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>The above description is, in my opinion,
also somewhat abstract and static in not viewing 'everyday life' as
constituted not only by 'acts' but by complex processes of constant change. This
criticism is similar to that made by Loet July 29 from his different
perspective:</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2><FONT size=3><FONT color=#44546a><FONT
face=Calibri>But human agency is not an isolated system, in my opinion. We are
coupled through our communications which generate non-linear loops. ... In sum,
the argument that action is only bodily and in relation to artifacts (as
isolated systems) seems questionable to me. ... Why would not the potentiality
of matter contain a plurality (multiplicity) of
options?<o:p></o:p></FONT></FONT></FONT>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
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<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>There is here room for further reflection, I
think.</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Best,</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2>Joseph</FONT></DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2> </FONT> </DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT> </DIV>
<BLOCKQUOTE
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<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial">----- Original Message ----- </DIV>
<DIV
style="BACKGROUND: #e4e4e4; FONT: 10pt arial; font-color: black"><B>From:</B>
<A title=fernando.flores@kultur.lu.se
href="mailto:fernando.flores@kultur.lu.se">Fernando Flores</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>To:</B> <A title=fis@listas.unizar.es
href="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es">fis@listas.unizar.es</A> </DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Sent:</B> Thursday, July 30, 2015 10:17
AM</DIV>
<DIV style="FONT: 10pt arial"><B>Subject:</B> [Fis] Answer to Mark</DIV>
<DIV><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT face=Arial size=2></FONT><FONT
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<DIV class=WordSection1>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Dear
Mark<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'"><o:p> </o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal style="LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; TEXT-ALIGN: justify"><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">Thanks
for your commentaries. Our use of the term “foundational” is more
philosophical than practical. You are right; the term contradicts in some
sense our intentions which are “very” practical. (This is a term which we
could leave behind without hesitation.) In fact, we have no intentions in
“instituting” a new concept of “information”. Our work is “foundational” only
in one aspect, and that is in searching for methods to measure the
informational value of collective acts in everyday life. We found that it was
necessary to classify human acts in such a way that their informational value
could be “operative” (useful in practical tasks); we did that, grouping the
acts in types depending on their complexity. We found that these acts could
also be distinguished in relation to their consequences on the everyday world.
We noticed that the movement from the very complex acts to the simplest acts
follows a reduction of the surrounding world and that the human body is the
natural reference in the understanding of this reduction. We knew that we
could express informational value in relation to probabilities and found in
the von Mises/Popper frequency series a possible and easy solution (an
accessible mathematics). We insist; we have been working only with practical
problems and we have not been thinking so much of which concept of information
we are using; </SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">we
believe that cybernetics does not address the practical problems we
confront</SPAN><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 12pt; LINE-HEIGHT: 150%; FONT-FAMILY: 'Courier New'">.
However, we are sure that if we succeed, some cybernetic theorem will explain
our success. The question is that the state of knowledge we have today is
insufficient to understand the simplest informational problems in our
surrounding world. Informational theory and cybernetics have been developed in
the world of Physics; instead, we try to develop solutions that work in
everyday life. If you understand as “variety” the measure of the “states of a
system”, the series of von Mises/Popper could be our kind of variety, but we
are not sure. You are certain, our “acts” are neither “actions” nor “events”,
but they are not the hybrids of Latour either. Our acts are phenomenological;
they are intended to be congruent with concepts as “work”, “money”, “culture”,
“thing”, “market”, and the like. The concept “informational value” for
example, is very close to the concept of “information” without meaning exact
the same. <o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black">Fernando Flores
PhD<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN
style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black">Associate Professor<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black">History
of Ideas and Sciences<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><SPAN lang=SV style="FONT-SIZE: 10pt; COLOR: black">Lund
University<o:p></o:p></SPAN></P>
<P class=MsoNormal><o:p> </o:p></P></DIV>
<P></P><FONT face=Calibri size=2></FONT><FONT face=Calibri size=2></FONT>
<HR>
<P></P>_______________________________________________<BR>Fis mailing
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