<p dir="ltr">Dear all,<br>
Just a quick reply to Howard's fascinating account of cosmic history.</p>
<p dir="ltr">It seems what is crucially needed is a theory that brings together "brute force" on the one hand - laws of nature "blindly" colliding and colluding, from quarks to planets - and "information" on the other - from pre-human codes (perhaps including quantum computation) and communication to advanced human and cybernetic networks. </p>
<p dir="ltr">The former seems to be able to do away with everything except a few simple rules of operation (gravity, natural selection, will-to-power), everything more complex being the unfolding of the interaction between these few simple rules (eternal or emergent is beside the point here). The latter seems to depend upon subjective interpretation, the retention of systems memory, symbolic coding-decoding, and other processes that compose only a subset of the (creatures and processes) of the universe. Never the twain shall meet. </p>
<p dir="ltr">Or perhaps brute force can be analyzed as equivalent to information? Or vice versa? Or as two sides of the same coin?</p>
<p dir="ltr">Best, <br>
Otto Lehto,<br>
Tampere, Finland</p>
<div class="gmail_quote">On 2 Feb 2016 13:46, "Krassimir Markov" <<a href="mailto:markov@foibg.com">markov@foibg.com</a>> wrote:<br type="attribution"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0 0 0 .8ex;border-left:1px #ccc solid;padding-left:1ex">
<div style="FONT-SIZE:10pt;FONT-FAMILY:Verdana;COLOR:#000000" dir="ltr">
<div dir="ltr">
<div style="FONT-SIZE:14pt;FONT-FAMILY:'Calibri';COLOR:#000000">
<div><font size="4">Dear Howard,</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">Thank you very much for your great effort and nice
explanation!</font></div>
<div><font size="4">I like it!</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">Only what I needed to see is a concrete answer to the question
“what it the Information?”</font></div>
<div><font size="4">You absolutely clearly described it and I totally agree with
your considerations.</font></div>
<div><font size="4">Only what is needed is to conclude with a short
definition.</font></div>
<div><font size="4">I think it may be the next:</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">The Information is a reflection which may be interpreted by
its receiver in the context the receiver has in his/her memory.</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">From this definition many consequences follow. In future we
may discuss them.</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">Friendly regards</font></div>
<div><font size="4">Krassimir</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">PS:</font></div>
<div><font size="4">Dear FIS Colleagues,<br></font></div>
<div><font size="4">1. At the ITHEA web side, the conferences for year 2016 have
been announced.</font></div>
<div><font size="4">One of them is the XIV-th International Conference on “General
Information Theory”.</font></div>
<div><font size="4">Please visit link:</font></div>
<div><a title="http://www.ithea.org/conferences/conferences.html" href="http://www.ithea.org/conferences/conferences.html" target="_blank"><font size="4">http://www.ithea.org/conferences/conferences.html</font></a></div>
<div><font size="4">Welcome in Varna, Bulgaria !</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">2. May be it will be interesting to read the paper, published
in our </font></div>
<div><font size="4">International Journal “Information Theories and Applications”
( </font><a title="http://www.foibg.com/ijita/" href="http://www.foibg.com/ijita/" target="_blank"><font size="4">http://www.foibg.com/ijita/</font></a><font size="4"> ) :</font></div>
<div><a title="Formal Theory of Semantic and Pragmatic Information - a Technocratic Approach Venco Bojilov" href="http://www.foibg.com/ijita/vol22/ijita22-04-p05.pdf" target="_blank"><font size="4">Formal
Theory of Semantic and Pragmatic Information - a Technocratic
Approach</font></a></div>
<div><font size="4">by Venco Bojilov</font></div>
<div><a title="http://www.foibg.com/ijita/vol22/ijita22-04-p05.pdf" href="http://www.foibg.com/ijita/vol22/ijita22-04-p05.pdf" target="_blank"><font size="4">http://www.foibg.com/ijita/vol22/ijita22-04-p05.pdf</font></a></div>
<div><font size="4">Please send your remarks to the author to e-mail: </font><a href="mailto:office@ithea.org" target="_blank"><font size="4">office@ithea.org</font></a><font size="4"> </font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4">Krassimir</font></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div style="FONT-SIZE:small;TEXT-DECORATION:none;FONT-FAMILY:"Calibri";FONT-WEIGHT:normal;COLOR:#000000;FONT-STYLE:normal;DISPLAY:inline">
<div style="FONT:10pt tahoma">
<div><font size="4" face="Calibri"></font> </div>
<div style="BACKGROUND:#f5f5f5">
<div><font face="Calibri"><font size="4"><b>From:</b>
</font></font><a title="HowlBloom@aol.com" href="mailto:HowlBloom@aol.com" target="_blank"><font size="4" face="Calibri">HowlBloom@aol.com</font></a><font size="4" face="Calibri">
</font></div>
<div><font face="Calibri"><font size="4"><b>Sent:</b> Tuesday, February 02, 2016
8:46 AM</font></font></div>
<div><font face="Calibri"><font size="4"><b>To:</b> </font></font><a title="pcmarijuan.iacs@aragon.es" href="mailto:pcmarijuan.iacs@aragon.es" target="_blank"><font size="4" face="Calibri">pcmarijuan.iacs@aragon.es</font></a><font size="4" face="Calibri"> </font></div>
<div><font face="Calibri"><font size="4"><b>Cc:</b> </font></font><a title="fis@listas.unizar.es" href="mailto:fis@listas.unizar.es" target="_blank"><font size="4" face="Calibri">fis@listas.unizar.es</font></a><font size="4" face="Calibri">
</font></div>
<div><font face="Calibri"><font size="4"><b>Subject:</b> [Fis] _ Closing
lecture</font></font></div></div></div>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div></div>
<div style="FONT-SIZE:small;TEXT-DECORATION:none;FONT-FAMILY:"Calibri";FONT-WEIGHT:normal;COLOR:#000000;FONT-STYLE:normal;DISPLAY:inline"><font color="#000000">
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">First, a few
responses.<span> </span>I agree with Hans von
Baeyer.<span> </span>Pedro’s kindness is
magic.<span> </span><u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">I agree with Gyorgy
Darvas that quarks communicate.<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">I also agree with
Jerry Chandler.<span> </span>Brute force is not
the major mover of history.<span> </span>Values
and virtues count.<span> </span>A lot.<span> </span>In fact, a culture organizes itself by
calling one way of doing things evil—brute force—and another way of doing things
a value<span> </span>and a virtue.<span> </span>Our way is the value and the
virtue.<span> </span>The ways of others are
brute force and evil.<span> </span>We see
cooperation<span> </span>and warmth among
us.<span> </span>But only enmity <span> </span>and destruction among them.<span> </span><u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">The<span> </span>brute force is not
<strong>within</strong> groups, where values, virtues, and compassion
prevail.<span> </span>It’s
<strong>between</strong> groups.<span>
</span>It’s in the pecking order battles between groups.<span> </span><u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">Which means, in
answer to Marcus Abundis, yes, groups struggle for position in inter-group
hierarchies like chickens in a barnyard.<span>
</span>For example, America and China are vying right now for top position in
the barnyard of nations.<span> </span>Russia’s
in that battle, too.<span> </span>On a lower
level, so are Saudi Arabia and Iran, whose proxy war in Syria for pecking order
dominance has cost a quarter of a million lives.<span> </span>That’s brute force.<span> </span>Between groups whose citizens are often
lovely and loving to each other. <span> </span>Whose citizens are proud of their values
and virtues.<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">Now for a final
statement.<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">Information exists
in a context.<span> </span>That’s not at all
surprising.<span> </span>Information is all
about context.<span> </span>As the writings of
Guenther Witzany hint. <span> </span>And as
Ludwig Wittgenstein also suggested.<span>
</span>Information is relational.<span>
</span>Information does not exist in a vacuum.<span> </span>It connects participants.<span> </span>And it makes things happen.<span> </span>When it’s not connecting participants,
it’s not information<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">FIS gets fired up
to a high energy level when discussing the definition of information and its
relationship to Shannon’s entropic information equation.<span> </span>Alas, these discussions tend<span> </span>to remove the context.<span> </span>And context is what gives information
its indispensable ingredient, meaning.<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">There are two basic
approaches in science:<span>
</span><u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0in 0in 0pt 0.5in"><font face="Calibri"><font size="4"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:symbol"><span>·<span style="FONT:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>the abstract mathematical; <u></u><u></u></font></font></p>
<p style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt 0.5in"><font face="Calibri"><font size="4"><span style="FONT-FAMILY:symbol"><span>·<span style="FONT:7pt "Times New Roman"">
</span></span></span>and the observational empirical.<span> </span><u></u><u></u></font></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">Mathematical
abstractionists dwell on definitions and equations.<span> </span>Empirical observers gather facts.<span> </span>Darwin was an observational empiricist.
I’d like to see more of Darwin’s kind of science in the world of information
theory.<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">One of Darwin’s
most important contributions was not the concept of natural selection.<span> </span>It was an approach that Darwin got from
Kant and from his grandfather Erasmus.<span>
</span>That approach?<span> </span>Lay out the
history of the cosmos on a timeline and piece together its story.<span> </span>In chronological order.<span> </span>Piece together the saga of how this
cosmos has created itself.<span>
</span>Including the self-motivated, self-creation of
life.<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">Communication plays
a vital role in this story.<span> </span>It
appears in the first 10(-32) of a second of the cosmos’ existence, when quarks
communicated using attraction and repulsion cues.<span> </span>OK, it’s not quite right to call the
cues attraction and repulsion cues.<span>
</span>When two quarks sized each other up, they interpreted the signals of the
strong force differently.<span> </span>If you
were a quark, another quark might size you up and promptly speed away.<span> </span>But a quark of a different variety might
detect the same signals, find them wildly attractive, and speed in your
direction.<span> </span>One quark’s meat was
another’s poison, even in that first form of communication in the cosmos.<span> </span><u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">Information is not
a stand-alone.<span> </span>Again, it’s
contextual.<span> </span>It’s ruled by what
Guenther Witzany calls syntax, semantics, and, most important of all,
pragmatics.<span> </span>Its meaning comes from
where it fits in a bigger picture.<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">Were the signals
quarks exchanged information?<span> </span>Not
according to many of the definitions in FIS.<span> </span>Some of those definitions say that to be
regarded as information, a sender must deliberately signify something
symbolically.<span> </span>She must, for
example, want to warn you about a poisoned apple.<span> </span>She must put that message in symbols,
like the words “poisoned apple,” then convey that signal to a receiver.<span> </span>If she doesn’t want to see you poisoned,
she might text you, “watch out for poisoned apples.”<span> </span>I’m not sure whether the definitions
extant in FIS demand that you look at her text or not.<span> </span>Much less whether you act on
it.<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">In my latest book,
<i>The God Problem: How A Godless Cosmos
Creates</i>, I propose a different definition of information.<span> </span>Information is anything a receiver can
decode, anything he can decipher.<span>
</span>How do you know a receiver has decoded a message?<span> </span>Through the decoder’s actions.<span> </span>If you are a quark and you detect my
strong force, you either scoot away or you rush over and join me.<span> </span>You act.<span> </span>If you are a neurosurgeon looking at an
mri, you make internal decisions, mental decisions.<span> </span>You don’t move physically.<span> </span>Not at first.<span> </span>But you move mentally.<span> </span>You imagine your scalpel poised over a
different spot than you might have picked before seeing the mri.<span> </span><u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">Information is
anything a receiver can decode.<span> </span>So
starlight reaching planet earth 4.5 billion years ago, nearly half a billion
years before the appearance of the first life, was not information.<span> </span>There was no one or no thing that
interpreted it, translated it, or acted on it.<span> </span>But starlight in the age of the
Babylonians 2,600 years ago was highly informational.<span> </span>Entire teams of scribes and priests
spent their lives observing it and interpreting it. <span> </span>Many of their interpretations were
detailed bullet points of political and personal advice to the ruler.<span> </span>Was there motion in response to
starlight?<span> </span>You bet.<span> </span>Starlight literally moved the troops and
policies of empires.<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">And today, when
there are tens of thousands of professional astronomers and millions of amateurs
with telescopes, all churning out data and emails<span> </span>to each other, the amount of information
in starlight has skyrocketed.<span> </span>But,
in fact, the actual starlight has not increased.<span> </span>Not a bit.<span> </span>It’s the number of interpreters that’s
shot up.<span> </span>And with the interpreters,
something else has mushroomed: the information, the interpretation, and the
theories along with their supporting or opposing “facts.”<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">The timeline of
communication from quarks to empires is crucial.<span> </span>It’s the natural history we need to see
the evolution of information.<span> </span>No
matter what we define information to be.<span>
</span>The timeline of the cosmos is context on the biggest scale.<span> </span>It can make new meaning of facts we
scarcely see.<span> </span>It can make more
phenomena we experience every day but do not see into, guess what?<span> </span>Information.<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">That’s a timeline
I’m working on.<u></u><u></u></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal" style="MARGIN:0in 0in 10pt"><font size="4">Thanks for having
me in your group.<span> </span>And thanks for
giving me a chance to share thoughts with you.<u></u><u></u></font></p></div>
<div><font size="4">howard</font></div>
<div><font lang="0" size="4">____________<br>Howard
Bloom<br>Author of: <i>The Lucifer Principle: A Scientific Expedition Into the
Forces of History</i> ("mesmerizing"-<i>The Washington Post</i>),<br><i>Global
Brain: The Evolution of Mass Mind From The Big Bang to the 21st Century</i>
("reassuring and sobering"-<i>The New Yorker)</i>,<br><i>The Genius of the
Beast: A Radical Re-Vision of Capitalism</i> ("A tremendously enjoyable book."
James Fallows, National Correspondent, <i>The Atlantic</i>),<br><i>The God
Problem: How A Godless Cosmos Creates</i> ("Bloom's argument will rock your
world." Barbara Ehrenreich),<br><i>How I Accidentally Started the Sixties</i>
("Wow! Whew! Wild!<br>Wonderful!" Timothy Leary), and<br><i>The Mohammed
Code</i> ("A terrifying book…the best book I've read on Islam." David
Swindle,<i> PJ Media</i>).<br><a href="http://www.howardbloom.net" target="_blank">www.howardbloom.net</a><br>Former Core Faculty Member,
The Graduate Institute; Former Visiting Scholar-Graduate Psychology Department,
New York University.<br>Founder: International Paleopsychology Project; Founder,
Space Development Steering Committee; Founder: The Group Selection Squad;
Founding Board Member: Epic of Evolution Society; Founding Board Member, The
Darwin Project; Founder: The Big Bang Tango Media Lab; member: New York Academy
of Sciences, American Association for the Advancement of Science, American
Psychological Society, Academy of Political Science, Human Behavior and
Evolution Society, International Society for Human Ethology, Scientific Advisory
Board Member, Lifeboat Foundation; Editorial Board Member, Journal of Space
Philosophy; Board member and member of Board of Governors, National Space
Society.</font><font lang="0" color="#000000"><br>
<div><font size="4"></font> </div>
<div>
<div><font size="4">In a message dated 2/1/2016 8:46:55 A.M. Eastern Standard
Time, <a href="mailto:pcmarijuan.iacs@aragon.es" target="_blank">pcmarijuan.iacs@aragon.es</a> writes:</font></div>
<blockquote style="PADDING-LEFT:10px;MARGIN-LEFT:10px"><font style="BACKGROUND-COLOR:transparent" color="#000000" size="4">Thanks Howard.
Please, at your convenience send the concluding comments to the fis list.
<br></font></blockquote></div></font></div></font>
<p><font size="4"></font></p><font size="4">
<hr>
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