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<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy'>Dear
Terry, Dear All,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'>As you know, over 10 years ago, Wu Kun presented the philosophy of
information as a metaphilosophy, since it subsumed all of the scientific,
technological and philosophical aspects of information. This is not a proposal
of one correct usage, but of common physical and metaphysical principles
underlying and/or instantiated by information. Information involves both informing
and being informed, which are physical ‘events’ with metaphilosophical
implications. The metaphysical aspects of information, such as Terry’s
most important concept of ‘absence’, have a key role in answering
our questions. I am thus becoming convinced that without a transdisciplinary,
philosophical and metaphilosophical framework, NO primarily technological or
first-order scientific approach will be adequate. There is for me no epistemic
cut between the Foundations of Information Science and the Foundations of Information
Philosophy. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'>Terry correctly points to the importance of the RELATIONSHIPS
between the multiple definitions of information. The domains of study of ‘relationships’,
as real and not abstractions, are both scientific and philosophical and neither
can be neglected at the expense of the other. <i><span style='font-style:italic'>Pace
</span></i>Emanuel, not all that is real is palpable. One should not lose sight
of the fact that the definitions of information do not exhaust the properties
of information as a phenomenon, involving real physical change. A serious
study of the complex relations involved in both information and its definitions
and their usage – interpretations - should take this into account. <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'>I wrote above “Information involves both informing and being
informed”. Apart from my ‘label’ of these as processes, I now
think that one cannot talk about information (science and philosophy) without
talking also about communications (science and philosophy), which are both the
same and different. At one end of the scale of meaning (being?), computers communicate,
exchanging information (1), Floridian well-formed data. At the other end,
people talk to one another, exchanging information (2), which may be ill-formed
feelings. The latter, however, is ‘open’, in relation to all the
past, present and future of the human beings involved.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'>I hope the above will be useful, at least in part.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'>Best wishes,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face="Lucida Sans Unicode"><span
lang=EN-GB style='font-size:11.0pt;font-family:"Lucida Sans Unicode";
color:navy'>Joseph <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=2 color=navy face=Arial><span lang=EN-GB
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Arial;color:navy'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<div class=MsoNormal align=center style='text-align:center'><font size=3
face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'>
<hr size=2 width="100%" align=center tabindex=-1>
</span></font></div>
<p class=MsoNormal><b><font size=2 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US
style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma;font-weight:bold'>From:</span></font></b><font
size=2 face=Tahoma><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:10.0pt;font-family:Tahoma'>
Fis [mailto:fis-bounces@listas.unizar.es] <b><span style='font-weight:bold'>On
Behalf Of </span></b>Terrence W. DEACON<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Sent:</span></b> mardi, 10 mars 2020 21:20<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>To:</span></b> Emanuel Diamant<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Cc:</span></b> Foundations of Information
Science Information Science; Pedro C. Marijuan<br>
<b><span style='font-weight:bold'>Subject:</span></b> Re: [Fis] defining
information</span></font><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Dear FIS Colleagues,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>My recent post was not intended to provide a definition of information.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>But only to provide a framework to minimize the equivocation<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>that comes from uses of the term 'information' that make unmarked
assumptions about what one is assuming.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>It seems obvious to me that the term is being used in mutually
incompatible ways<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>by different FIS contributors, often with the implied claim that the
writer's use of the term <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>is THE ONE CORRECT USAGE, when in fact there may be no single most
useful interpretation<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>that works across all scientific and technical domains, not to mention
the social sciences and humanities.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>I do believe that we will make more progress if we are clear about our
assumed definitions in our different contexts of use.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>For example, as a neuroscientist who has also written about computer
architecture,<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>I find that a good deal of confusion in cognitive science results from
assuming that we are talking about the same thing <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>when using the term 'information' to talk about brain functions and
computational operations.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>So I think that FIS could provide a service to many fields by working
on an information vocabulary<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>that helps to avoid these sorts of definitional equivocations;<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>i.e. not THE definition of information, but definitionS of information
within a framework that shows their relationships to one another.<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Regards, Terry<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>On Tue, Mar 10, 2020 at 8:16 AM Emanuel Diamant <<a
href="mailto:emanl.245@gmail.com">emanl.245@gmail.com</a>> wrote:<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<blockquote style='border:none;border-left:solid #CCCCCC 1.0pt;padding:0cm 0cm 0cm 6.0pt;
margin-left:4.8pt;margin-right:0cm'>
<div>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:13.0pt'>Dear
Pedro, Dear FIS colleagues, </span></font><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:13.0pt'> </span></font><span
lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:13.0pt'>I do
not share the general excitement about the revitalization of the FIS discussion
on information definition. </span></font><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:13.0pt'>I am
not sure that the principle of “three messages per week” or the
ITHEA Cloud Forum, with an </span></font><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:13.0pt'>unlimited
number of posts and 1M-large attachments, is our main problem. I think that our
discussion (again and again) violates the basic principle of any scientific
discourse - the IF-THEN principle - according to which each hypothetical
assumption is followed by a suggestion what stems from it, where, and how these
expectations could be discerned and observed. If I remember right, Terence and
Gordana on several previous occasions have addressed this issue, but their call
has remained unanswered.</span></font><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:13.0pt'>However,
refreshing the definitions of information we cannot continue to ignore the
IF-THEN rule requirement - How does the defined information look like, how it
is represented, what is its real form? The proposed definition of information
must be followed by a suggestion of assets that make it (the information)
visible, tangible, palpable. </span></font><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:13.0pt'>Only
this kind of information definitions is being urgently needed in the worldwide
Human Brain Research programme. Or in the overhyped global Artificial Intelligence
race. In both, Artificial Neural Networks (which are data processing number
crunching devices) are supposed to emulate human brain biological neurons
(which are pure information processing devices). Both fail to fulfill their
promises, but do not understand for what reason and why. The current FIS
discussion certainly will not help them.</span></font><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:13.0pt'>Regards,
Emanuel. </span></font><span lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=4 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:13.0pt'> </span></font><span
lang=EN-US><o:p></o:p></span></p>
<p class=MsoNormal style='mso-margin-top-alt:auto;mso-margin-bottom-alt:auto'><font
size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span lang=EN-US style='font-size:12.0pt'> <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>_______________________________________________<br>
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</blockquote>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><br clear=all>
<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'><o:p> </o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>-- <o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
<div>
<p class=MsoNormal><font size=3 face="Times New Roman"><span style='font-size:
12.0pt'>Professor Terrence W. Deacon<br>
University of California, Berkeley<o:p></o:p></span></font></p>
</div>
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