Dear Mark and colleagues,
Loet, clearly the redundancy is apophatic, although one has to be cautious in saying this: the domain of the apophatic is bigger than the domain of Shannon redundancy. At some point in the future we may do better in developing measurement techniques for 'surprise' in communication (I wonder if Lou Kauffman's Recursive Distinguishing is a way forwards...). The extension of the redundancy is not primarily a matter of measurement techniques, but of theorizing. The redundancy depends on the specification of the system. The Shannon-type information is empirical, but only the specification of the system enables us to specify the H(max) and therefore the redundancy. As the system grows, it may develop new dimensions which are manifest as bifurcations. (Reaction-diffusion dynamics; Rashevsky, Turing.) When one goes from one dimension n to a two-dimensional system [n,m], the number of options [H(max)] goes from log(n) to log(n * m), and thus the redundancy increases rapidly. For example: as long as transport over the Alps is limited to passes like the Brenner, the capacity can become exhausted. Digging tunnels or flying over the Alps adds degrees of freedom to the transport system. The number of options (n * m * k * ..) can "explode" by cultural and technological developments. The transitions come as surprises (e.g., the demise of the Soviet-Union). Suddenly, the relevant systems definitions have to be revised. The systems definitions have the status of hypotheses. Hypotheses can be considered as theoretically informed expectations. The world of expectations proliferates with a dynamic different from the actualizations. The two realms are coupled since the actualizations can be considered as instantiations of the order of expectations; but only if the latter is specified as different from the empirical order of realizations. Best, Loet _____ Loet Leydesdorff Professor, University of Amsterdam Amsterdam School of Communication Research (ASCoR) <mailto:l...@leydesdorff.net> l...@leydesdorff.net ; <http://www.leydesdorff.net/> http://www.leydesdorff.net/ Associate Faculty, <http://www.sussex.ac.uk/spru/> SPRU, University of Sussex; Guest Professor <http://www.zju.edu.cn/english/> Zhejiang Univ., Hangzhou; Visiting Professor, <http://www.istic.ac.cn/Eng/brief_en.html> ISTIC, Beijing; Visiting Professor, <http://www.bbk.ac.uk/> Birkbeck, University of London; <http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ych9gNYAAAAJ&hl=en> http://scholar.google.com/citations?user=ych9gNYAAAAJ&hl=en
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