tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8398797088391606752.post4615673738012346981..comments2023-09-06T07:13:58.715-07:00Comments on PLEKTIX: InformationBen Allenhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15594823641514744644noreply@blogger.comBlogger6125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8398797088391606752.post-62220499166561396402008-03-27T16:23:00.000-07:002008-03-27T16:23:00.000-07:00It's here.It's <A HREF="http://arxiv.org/abs/0803.3608" REL="nofollow">here</A>.Blake Staceyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/13977394981287067289noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8398797088391606752.post-62125007750090728712008-03-25T21:44:00.000-07:002008-03-25T21:44:00.000-07:00Okay, I see. It'll be interesting to read the pape...Okay, I see. It'll be interesting to read the paper when you post it.Almost Philosopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10417605365066596184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8398797088391606752.post-6735699275764108252008-03-25T20:04:00.000-07:002008-03-25T20:04:00.000-07:00AP, that's a good question, and one which I plan t...AP, that's a good question, and one which I plan to address in the near future.<BR/><BR/>Short answer: Information theory defines ways to quantify information. I believe there are other ways to quantify information outside of traditional information theory, and I've just written a paper to that effect (to be posted soon.) But regardless, this is different from having a philosophical definition of what information really is. I don't think information theory goes there, though I may have missed something.Ben Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15594823641514744644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8398797088391606752.post-83889626237349603262008-03-24T18:11:00.000-07:002008-03-24T18:11:00.000-07:00I don't really know much about this topic but I th...I don't really know much about this topic but I thought there was already an agreed upon definition of information via information theory.<BR/><BR/>Does the fact that you're looking for a different definition mean that you're looking to approach information from a different (more intuitive?) perspective or does it mean you disagree with the current definition?<BR/><BR/>Also, it seems to me that the physical form of information contains information itself. So I would respond differently to information on a stone tablet to the same information transmitted via radiowaves. The method of communication would itself give me some information about the sender.<BR/><BR/>Of course, that's not to disprove what you've said as there still exists the message information which exists independent of the physical manifestation. I just thought it was an interesting thing to note.Almost Philosopherhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/10417605365066596184noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8398797088391606752.post-56988472312555029512008-03-24T10:11:00.000-07:002008-03-24T10:11:00.000-07:00It's true that a physical signal has no intrinsic ...It's true that a physical signal has no intrinsic meaning without an associated decoding scheme. This creates an interesting distinction between physical information (entropy) and communication information: Physical information is a property of the physical system, but communication information is a property of the system together with the decoding scheme, which, as you say, discards most of the physical information. Physical information/entropy is in fact the limit of how much information can be stored or communicated in a physical system. <BR/><BR/>Thanks for highlighting these issues.Ben Allenhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15594823641514744644noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-8398797088391606752.post-11291702600123500122008-03-23T21:23:00.000-07:002008-03-23T21:23:00.000-07:00I think one of its crucial properties is that info...<I>I think one of its crucial properties is that information is independent of the system used to communicate it</I><BR/><BR/>I think this has to be extremely carefully defined. If you and I agree on an encoding then it shouldn't matter which system we choose. But if I'm expecting 7-bit ASCII and you send Unicode, then we've got a problem.<BR/><BR/>I think a big problem here is that you're trying to get at the notion of a message independent of a medium. Removing a message (and its information content) from a channel is a process of stripping away complexity. I can send you a message by smoke signals, and you discard all the random, complicated motions of smoke particles when you decode it.John Armstronghttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15177732626660057584noreply@blogger.com