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Information and Meaning is the third book in a trilogy exploring the nature of information, intelligence and meaning. It begins by providing an overview of the first two works of the trilogy, then goes on to consider the meaning of meaning. This explorat ion leads to a theory of how the brain works. This book differs from others in the field, in that it is written from the perspective of a theoretical biologist looking at the evolution of information systems as a basis for studying the phenomena of information, intelligence and meaning. It describes how neurons create a brain which understands information inputs and then is able to operate on such information.
Not so if the book has been translated into Arabic. Now the reader
can discern no meaning in the letters. The text conveys almost no
information to the reader, yet the linguistic informa tion
contained by the book is virtually the same as in the English
original. The reader, familiar with books will still recognise two
things, however: First, that the book is a book. Second, that the
squiggles on the page represent a pattern of abstractions which
probably makes sense to someone who understands the mean ing of
those squiggles. Therefore, the book as such, will still have some
meaning for the English reader, even if the content of the text has
none. Let us go to a more extreme case. Not a book, but a stone, or
a rock with engravings in an ancient language no longer under stood
by anyone alive. Does such a stone not contain human information
even if it is not decipherable? Suppose at some point in the
future, basic knowledge about linguistics and clever computer aids
allow us to decipher it? Or suppose someone discovers the
equivalent of a Rosetta stone which allows us to translate it into
a known language, and then into English? Can one really say that
the stone contained no information prior to translation? It is
possible to argue that the stone, prior to deciphering contained
only latent information."
Preamble The emergence of machine intelligence during the second
half of the twentieth century is the most important development in
the evolution of this planet since the origin of life two to three
thousand million years ago. The emergence of machine intelligence
within the matrix of human society is analogous to the emergence,
three billion years ago, of complex, self-replicating molecules
within the matrix of an energy-rich molecular soup - the first step
in the evolution of life. The emergence of machine intelligence
within a human social context has set into motion irreversible
processes which will lead to an evolutionary discontinuity. Just as
the emergence of "Life" represented a qualitatively different form
of organisation of matter and energy, so will pure "Intelligence"
represent a qualitatively different form of organisation of matter,
energy and life. The emergence of machine intelligence presages the
progression of the human species as we know it, into a form which,
at present, we would not recognise as "human." As Forsyth and
Naylor (1985) have pointed out: "Humanity has opened two Pandora's
boxes at the same time, one labelled genetic engineering, the other
labelled knowledge engineering. What we have let out is not
entirely clear, but it is reasonable to hazard a guess that it
contains the seeds of our successors."
In comparing plant and animal tumors it must bc remembered,
however, that there are certain developmental and I'unctional
characteristics C01- monly used in the differentiation of animal
cancers that are more or less restricted to animals and cannot,
therefore, be carried over and applied to plant tumors. These have
been dealt with in detail by WHITE and BRAUN (1942) and by BLACK
(1949), and will not be considered further here. The most essential
characteristic of being able to grow independently of any
morphogenetic restraint, upon which all of the other diagnostic
features must ultimately depend, is, however, equaHy capable of
expression in neoplasia of a11 higher organisms since it is a
characteristic of the ceH itself. One striking aspect of tumor
genesis is the multiplicity of diverse agencies that are seemingly
capable of accomplishing essentially the same end result. Radiant
energy, irritation, carcinogenic ehemicals, parasitic organisms,
and virus es have all been shown to serve as incitors of tumors in
animals. The effectiveness of these various I'actors in cliciting
tumor formation appears to be a I'unction of the hereditary
constitution of the host. Many of these same agencies have also
beeIl found to be concerned etiologically in the inception of
tumors in plants.
Ist Information eine unabhangige Grosse, wie Masse, Impuls oder
elektrische Ladung? Professor T. Stonier ist davon uberzeugt.
Information existiert, unabhangig davon, ob jemand sie versteht.
Mehr als 2000 Jahre konnte niemand agyptische Hieroglyphen
entziffern, die Information war aber enthalten. Niemand wird
bezweifeln, dass ein DNA-Kristall mehr Information tragt als ein
Salzkristall derselben Masse. Der entscheidende Punkt ist, dass die
Bildung eines DNA-Kristalls mehr Energie benotigt. Energie wird
verbraucht, um Information zu erzeugen, d.h. um den
Organisationsgrad eines Systems zu erhohen bzw. seine Entropie zu
reduzieren. Tom Stonier stellt den Begriff von Information und ihre
Bedeutung von einer neuen Warte dar. Wer mit Information zu tun
hat, sollte dieses Buch lesen. Die "Zeit" schreibt zur englischen
Ausgabe: ..". unterstutzt er seine Thesen mit einleuchtenden
Beispielen und Metaphern, die auch Nichtphysikern das Lesen seines
Buches zum logischen Vergnugen machen. Nebenbei lernen wir bei ihm
eine Menge Physik und Molekulargenetik.""
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