Charts, links and quotes are acceptable in your answer.
7 thoughts on “Discussion: What is information?”
Most of the definitions I’ve found seem to be circular with other definitions (ie. the definitions for “facts” or “data”).
Some attempts on my part include:
The qualities of things accessible to the human mind.
The quality encompassing and describing the relative configurations of things and their interactions in all capacities.
Patterns created by living creatures to share, store, and/or convert the above qualities to a different format.
Though even these definitions are a bit circular (ie. the word “describing” . Tough to get away from it when the very act of communication uses the quality being defined. Like trying to use liquid water to make a cup that holds water.
I’d have to say, like dragon’s last definition, anything that can be communicated. What first comes to mind, like the first definition above, is what can be transfered through language, which is an exclusively human form of communication. But, communcation happens all throughout the animal kingdom.
For example, ants communicate mostly through smell. They create their food transfer lines by way of a communicative scent, called pheromones, which you’ve no-doubt heard of in terms of mammals. If you ever see a line of those small ants, going to and from a dead bug or a dropped ice cream cone, wait until there is a finger-sized break in the line and then smear the scent with your finger. You’ll notice that the ants become confused and spread out, looking for the line that’s just infront of them. Then they re-establish the trail and tighten the line again.
Ant pheromones communicate a few other signals, such as alarm, mating time and protection calls (the last two given exclusively by queens). The first ant you pick up with your fingers is always the easiest, because it’s the first to give off the alarm scent. With your hands already smelling like danger, ants will bolt as soon as you get close enough with them.
Humans have the little-understood pheromonal action as well, but I’ve only heard of it in terms of sexual attractiveness. These and other non-verbal communications are often subliminal. These aren’t just hand guestures and facial expressions that often aid verbal communication. Like ants, if you sense that everyone else in a room is nervous, you’re likely to become nervous yourself. While the information is unconcious, your brain is still processing and acting on it.
So, I’ll say information is anything that can be sensed, conciously or subliminally, by living creatures is information.
Also in addition to things that can be sensed directly: things that can be inferred or deduced from the senses.
I’d also argue for the distinction that to be information the thing doesn’t have to be grasped or interacted with in some way by the human mind, it just has to be able to be grasped or interacted with.
For instance ancient humans might not know why the sun emits more light of certain frequencies than others (or even know the nature of light). But the information about the sun’s chemical composition, mass, and the fusion of nuclei are all being transmitted to and interacting with those ancient humans all the same.
Similarly there might be rocks burried underground which will never be seen. The fact that there’s a fossil in one of them is still a piece of information, even if it’s nature is never revealed to humans. Certain aspects of the fossil (like it’s gravatic pull, temperature, etc.) are still communicating themselves to the rocks around it and through various routes to the rest of the universe.
Tim-Animal. You’ve not commented. COMMENT.
This is very important.
It seems that someone out there has already tried to answer that question here.
When god fails me, then I usually hit up these guys. Click here!
Megan – that is the type of answer I am looking for. Information is (to quote) “out there”.
Thom – as usual, I am speechless.
The following lyrics are from the song “Too Much Information” by The Police.
Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane
Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane
I’ve seen the whole world six times over
Sea of Japan to the Cliffs of Dover
I’ve seen the whole world six times over
Sea of Japan to the Cliffs of Dover
Overkill, overview
Over my dead body
Over me, over you
Over everybody
Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane
Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane
Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane
Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane
Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane
Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane
I’ve seen the whole world six times over
Sea of Japan to the Cliffs of Dover
I’ve seen the whole world six times over
Sea of Japan to the Cliffs of Dover
Overkill, overview
Over my dead body
Over me, over you
Over everybody
Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane
Too much information running through my brain
Too much information driving me insane
Most of the definitions I’ve found seem to be circular with other definitions (ie. the definitions for “facts” or “data”).
Some attempts on my part include:
Though even these definitions are a bit circular (ie. the word “describing” . Tough to get away from it when the very act of communication uses the quality being defined. Like trying to use liquid water to make a cup that holds water.
I’d have to say, like dragon’s last definition, anything that can be communicated. What first comes to mind, like the first definition above, is what can be transfered through language, which is an exclusively human form of communication. But, communcation happens all throughout the animal kingdom.
For example, ants communicate mostly through smell. They create their food transfer lines by way of a communicative scent, called pheromones, which you’ve no-doubt heard of in terms of mammals. If you ever see a line of those small ants, going to and from a dead bug or a dropped ice cream cone, wait until there is a finger-sized break in the line and then smear the scent with your finger. You’ll notice that the ants become confused and spread out, looking for the line that’s just infront of them. Then they re-establish the trail and tighten the line again.
Ant pheromones communicate a few other signals, such as alarm, mating time and protection calls (the last two given exclusively by queens). The first ant you pick up with your fingers is always the easiest, because it’s the first to give off the alarm scent. With your hands already smelling like danger, ants will bolt as soon as you get close enough with them.
Humans have the little-understood pheromonal action as well, but I’ve only heard of it in terms of sexual attractiveness. These and other non-verbal communications are often subliminal. These aren’t just hand guestures and facial expressions that often aid verbal communication. Like ants, if you sense that everyone else in a room is nervous, you’re likely to become nervous yourself. While the information is unconcious, your brain is still processing and acting on it.
So, I’ll say information is anything that can be sensed, conciously or subliminally, by living creatures is information.
Also in addition to things that can be sensed directly: things that can be inferred or deduced from the senses.
I’d also argue for the distinction that to be information the thing doesn’t have to be grasped or interacted with in some way by the human mind, it just has to be able to be grasped or interacted with.
For instance ancient humans might not know why the sun emits more light of certain frequencies than others (or even know the nature of light). But the information about the sun’s chemical composition, mass, and the fusion of nuclei are all being transmitted to and interacting with those ancient humans all the same.
Similarly there might be rocks burried underground which will never be seen. The fact that there’s a fossil in one of them is still a piece of information, even if it’s nature is never revealed to humans. Certain aspects of the fossil (like it’s gravatic pull, temperature, etc.) are still communicating themselves to the rocks around it and through various routes to the rest of the universe.
Tim-Animal. You’ve not commented. COMMENT.
This is very important.
It seems that someone out there has already tried to answer that question here.
When god fails me, then I usually hit up these guys. Click here!
Megan – that is the type of answer I am looking for. Information is (to quote) “out there”.
Thom – as usual, I am speechless.
The following lyrics are from the song “Too Much Information” by The Police.
Too much information running through my brain Too much information driving me insane Too much information running through my brain Too much information driving me insane
I’ve seen the whole world six times over Sea of Japan to the Cliffs of Dover I’ve seen the whole world six times over Sea of Japan to the Cliffs of Dover
Overkill, overview Over my dead body Over me, over you Over everybody
Too much information running through my brain Too much information driving me insane Too much information running through my brain Too much information driving me insane Too much information running through my brain Too much information driving me insane Too much information running through my brain Too much information driving me insane Too much information running through my brain Too much information driving me insane Too much information running through my brain Too much information driving me insane I’ve seen the whole world six times over Sea of Japan to the Cliffs of Dover I’ve seen the whole world six times over Sea of Japan to the Cliffs of Dover Overkill, overview Over my dead body Over me, over you Over everybody Too much information running through my brain Too much information driving me insane Too much information running through my brain Too much information driving me insane