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<span lang="EN-US" style="color:black;mso-ansi-language:EN-US">It is indeed difficult to define information as it applies to many different things. But these different things have in common to be agents, and agency may be a “key feature” of information. Take
away the agent, information does not exist, has no reason of being. <br>
And the reason of being of information is its meaning for the agent. Information exists only by i</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US">ts meaning for the agent which uses it to satisfy its constraints.<br>
The agent can then be looked at as “an identifiable entity submitted to internal constraints and capable of actions for the satisfaction of the constraints” (see para 3.2.3 in
</span><span lang="EN-US" style="mso-ansi-language:EN-US"><a href="https://philpapers.org/rec/MENCSA-2" id="LPlnk699524">https://philpapers.org/rec/MENCSA-2</a>).
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This would bring to a definition of information like “energy variation which leads an agent to generate meanings to satisfy its constraints” (looks like a rewording of “a difference that makes a difference"….)
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Best<br>
Christophe<br style="mso-special-character:line-break">
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<div id="divRplyFwdMsg" dir="ltr"><font face="Calibri, sans-serif" color="#000000" style="font-size:11pt"><b>De :</b> Fis <fis-bounces@listas.unizar.es> de la part de Loet Leydesdorff <loet@leydesdorff.net><br>
<b>Envoyé :</b> vendredi 6 mars 2020 07:47<br>
<b>À :</b> João Alvaro Carvalho <jac@dsi.uminho.pt>; fis <fis@listas.unizar.es><br>
<b>Objet :</b> Re: [Fis] [External Email] Re: defining information</font>
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<div class="">I gave up looking for an unifying definition of information.</div>
<div class="">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.</div>
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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. </div>
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Best,</div>
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Loet</div>
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