<div dir="ltr"><div> I don't see any problem in giving up trying to find a strict, general one-sentence definition of information that will satisfy all. It is like defining life or consciousness, after so many centuries there is no general definition that satisfies everybody, hence this is already telling us something... Still, one can define their properties, features in each specific circumstance, so the same can be done with information and thus we abort the problem of finding a general definition. This is what I mentioned in a publication that just came out ('On the emergence of cognition: from catalytic closure to neuroglial closure' <a href="https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10867-020-09543-8">https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007%2Fs10867-020-09543-8</a>), where I took the liberty to have a small section about what information means in nervous system research and wrote the following... which still may not satisfy everybody!!: <span style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">“The
concept of information has several connotations and in general </span><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">is somewhat relative: </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">‘Information
is a relative concept that assumes meaning only when related to the cognitive
structure of the observer of this utterance —the recipient’ [von Foerster, H.. In <i>Understanding Understanding</i>: <i>essays
on cybernetics and cognition</i>, Springer]. [....] </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> </span><span lang="EN-GB" style="background-image:initial;background-position:initial;background-size:initial;background-repeat:initial;background-origin:initial;background-clip:initial;font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif">Nonetheless, the various concepts of information are very
useful to address questions in each specific field, <b><u>the main thing needed is to
specify what kind of information one studies or talks about.</u></b> [...]</span><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"> trying to precisely define information in a most general manner becomes like trying
to define other fundamental properties like energy: the definitions are
inherently circular" </span></div><div><span style="font-size:12pt;line-height:115%;font-family:"Times New Roman",serif"><br></span></div><div><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Times New Roman",serif;font-size:12pt"> JL </span><br></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small"><br></span></p><p class="MsoNormal" style="margin:0cm 0cm 10pt;line-height:115%;font-size:11pt;font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:Arial,Helvetica,sans-serif;font-size:small">On Fri, Mar 6, 2020 at 12:14 PM Joseph Brenner <<a href="mailto:joe.brenner@bluewin.ch">joe.brenner@bluewin.ch</a>> wrote:</span></p></div><div class="gmail_quote"><blockquote class="gmail_quote" style="margin:0px 0px 0px 0.8ex;border-left:1px solid rgb(204,204,204);padding-left:1ex">
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy">The alternative is to give up looking for a unifying definition of information
<i><span style="font-style:italic">qua </span></i>static content and look for,
instead of a mathematical theory, a concept of information as a common dynamic process,
by definition multi-dimensional.<br>
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<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy">Best,<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:11pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy">Joseph <u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="2" color="navy" face="Arial"><span lang="EN-GB" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><b><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold">From:</span></font></b><font size="2" face="Tahoma"><span lang="EN-US" style="font-size:10pt;font-family:Tahoma">
Fis [mailto:<a href="mailto:fis-bounces@listas.unizar.es" target="_blank">fis-bounces@listas.unizar.es</a>] <b><span style="font-weight:bold">On
Behalf Of </span></b><u></u>Loet Leydesdorff<u></u><br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Sent:</span></b> vendredi, 6 mars 2020 07:48<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">To:</span></b> João Alvaro Carvalho; fis<br>
<b><span style="font-weight:bold">Subject:</span></b> Re: [Fis] [External
Email] Re: defining information</span></font><span lang="EN-US"><u></u><u></u></span></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Times New Roman"><span style="font-size:12pt"><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Segoe UI"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Segoe UI"">I gave up looking for an unifying definition of
information.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Segoe UI"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Segoe UI"">As soon I switch to another context (for example,
moving from the context of organisational work to the human mind or to
the cell) the key features are different.<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Segoe UI"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Segoe UI""><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Segoe UI"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Segoe UI"">This problem is precisely a reason to stick to a
content-free, i.e., mathematical definition of information. Information
can then further be made relevant in any special theory. The application is not
dimension-free. <u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Segoe UI"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Segoe UI""><u></u> <u></u></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Segoe UI"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Segoe UI"">Best,<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
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<p class="MsoNormal"><font size="3" face="Segoe UI"><span style="font-size:12pt;font-family:"Segoe UI"">Loet<u></u><u></u></span></font></p>
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