Read Online In the Beginning Was Information by Werner Gitt - Free Book Online Page A
Authors: Werner Gitt
Ads: Link
to a mental source, the mind of the sender.
Sequences of letters generated by various kinds of statistical processes are shown in Figure 38 (appendix A1.5). The programs used for this purpose were partially able to reproduce some of the syntactic properties of the language, but in the light of Theorems 16 and 17 these sequences of letters do not represent information. The next theorem enables one to distinguish between information and non-information:
Theorem 16: If a chain of symbols comprises only a statistical sequence of characters, it does not represent information.
Information is essentially linked to a sender (a mental source of information) according to Theorems 13 and 15. This result is independent of whether the recipient understands the information or not. When researchers studied Egyptian obelisks, the symbols were seen as information long before they were deciphered, because it was obvious that they could not have resulted from random processes. The meaning of the hieroglyphics could not be understood by any contemporaries (recipients) before the Rosetta Stone was found in 1799, but even so, it was regarded as information. The same holds for the gyrations of bees which were only understood by humans after being deciphered by Karl von Frisch. In contrast, the genetic code is still mostly unknown, except for the code allocations between the triplets and the amino acids.
All suitable ways of expressing meanings (mental substrates, thoughts, or nonmaterial contents of consciousness) are called languages. Information can be transmitted or stored in material media only when a language is available. The information itself is totally invariant in regard to the transmission system (acoustic, optical, or electrical) as well as the system of storage (brain, book, data processing system, or magnetic tape). This invariance is the result of its nonmaterial nature. There are different kinds of languages:
Natural languages used for communication: at present there are approximately 5,100 living languages on earth.
Artificial communication languages and languages used for signaling: Esperanto, deaf-mute languages, flag codes, and traffic signs.
Formal artificial languages: logical and mathematical calculi, chemical symbols, musical notation, algorithmic languages, programming languages like Ada, Algol, APL, BASIC, C, C++, Fortran, Pascal, and PL/1.
Special technical languages: building and construction plans, block diagrams, diagrams depicting the structure of chemical compounds, and electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic circuit diagrams.
Special languages found in living organisms: genetic languages, bee gyrations, pheromonal languages of various insects, hormonal languages, signaling systems in the webs of spiders, the language of dolphins, and instincts (e.g., the migration routes of birds, salmon, and eels). As is explained in appendix A2, the latter examples should rather be regarded as communication systems.
A common property of all languages is that defined sets of symbols are used, and that definite agreed-upon rules and meanings are allocated to the single signs or language elements. Every language consists of units like morphemes, lexemes, expressions, and entire sentences (in natural languages), that serve as carriers of meaning (formatives). Meanings are internally assigned to the formatives of a language, and both the sender and the recipient should be in accord about these meanings. The following can be employed for encoding meanings in natural languages: morphology, syntax (grammar and stylistics), phonetics, intonation, and gesticulation, as well as numerous other supplementary aids like homonyms, homophones, metaphors, synonyms, polysemes, antonyms, paraphrasing, anomalies, metonymy, and irony, etc.
Every communication process between sender and recipient consists of formulating and understanding the sememes (Greek sema = sign) in one and the same language. In the formulation process, the information to be
Sequences of letters generated by various kinds of statistical processes are shown in Figure 38 (appendix A1.5). The programs used for this purpose were partially able to reproduce some of the syntactic properties of the language, but in the light of Theorems 16 and 17 these sequences of letters do not represent information. The next theorem enables one to distinguish between information and non-information:
Theorem 16: If a chain of symbols comprises only a statistical sequence of characters, it does not represent information.
Information is essentially linked to a sender (a mental source of information) according to Theorems 13 and 15. This result is independent of whether the recipient understands the information or not. When researchers studied Egyptian obelisks, the symbols were seen as information long before they were deciphered, because it was obvious that they could not have resulted from random processes. The meaning of the hieroglyphics could not be understood by any contemporaries (recipients) before the Rosetta Stone was found in 1799, but even so, it was regarded as information. The same holds for the gyrations of bees which were only understood by humans after being deciphered by Karl von Frisch. In contrast, the genetic code is still mostly unknown, except for the code allocations between the triplets and the amino acids.
All suitable ways of expressing meanings (mental substrates, thoughts, or nonmaterial contents of consciousness) are called languages. Information can be transmitted or stored in material media only when a language is available. The information itself is totally invariant in regard to the transmission system (acoustic, optical, or electrical) as well as the system of storage (brain, book, data processing system, or magnetic tape). This invariance is the result of its nonmaterial nature. There are different kinds of languages:
Natural languages used for communication: at present there are approximately 5,100 living languages on earth.
Artificial communication languages and languages used for signaling: Esperanto, deaf-mute languages, flag codes, and traffic signs.
Formal artificial languages: logical and mathematical calculi, chemical symbols, musical notation, algorithmic languages, programming languages like Ada, Algol, APL, BASIC, C, C++, Fortran, Pascal, and PL/1.
Special technical languages: building and construction plans, block diagrams, diagrams depicting the structure of chemical compounds, and electrical, hydraulic, and pneumatic circuit diagrams.
Special languages found in living organisms: genetic languages, bee gyrations, pheromonal languages of various insects, hormonal languages, signaling systems in the webs of spiders, the language of dolphins, and instincts (e.g., the migration routes of birds, salmon, and eels). As is explained in appendix A2, the latter examples should rather be regarded as communication systems.
A common property of all languages is that defined sets of symbols are used, and that definite agreed-upon rules and meanings are allocated to the single signs or language elements. Every language consists of units like morphemes, lexemes, expressions, and entire sentences (in natural languages), that serve as carriers of meaning (formatives). Meanings are internally assigned to the formatives of a language, and both the sender and the recipient should be in accord about these meanings. The following can be employed for encoding meanings in natural languages: morphology, syntax (grammar and stylistics), phonetics, intonation, and gesticulation, as well as numerous other supplementary aids like homonyms, homophones, metaphors, synonyms, polysemes, antonyms, paraphrasing, anomalies, metonymy, and irony, etc.
Every communication process between sender and recipient consists of formulating and understanding the sememes (Greek sema = sign) in one and the same language. In the formulation process, the information to be
Similar Books
