Re: [Fis] Fwd: What is life?

2016-12-19 Thread Mark Johnson
Dear Bob (Ulanowicz), I hope I didn't come across as flippant about the political situation. The world is obviously in a very frightening and perilous state at the moment. Regarding ecology, Shannon and IT, the common denominator is "counting". This is far from trivial. The disastrous economic po

Re: [Fis] Fwd: What is life?

2016-12-18 Thread Mark Johnson
t wishes, Mark -Original Message- From: "Bob Logan" Sent: ‎18/‎12/‎2016 15:14 To: "Loet Leydesdorff" ; "Robert Ulanowicz" ; "Alex Hankey" Cc: "fis" Subject: Re: [Fis] Fwd: What is life? Hello Loet, Bob U, Alex et alia - I agree wit

Re: [Fis] Fwd: What is life?

2016-12-18 Thread Bob Logan
Hello Loet, Bob U, Alex et alia - I agree with Bob U when he wrote "The problem is that information is not an absolute.” As I have stated before on this list information is relative and depends on the context. And I agree with Loet when he wrote, "Different systems of reference, of course, ca

Re: [Fis] Fwd: What is life?

2016-12-17 Thread Loet Leydesdorff
The problem is that information is not an absolute. The same code when measured against different references (English vs. Spanish in this case) will yield different measures. It's the obverse of the Third Law of Thermodynamics. See < http://people.

Re: [Fis] Fwd: What is life?

2016-12-17 Thread Francesco Rizzo
Cari Tutti, In-form-azione significa formalmente, letteralmente e sostanzialmente un processo-attività (AZIONE) mediante il quale si da FORMA o si fa prendere FORMA: - alle persone, agli animale, alle piante, cioè agli esseri viventi; - all'Universo intero; - alle cose; - alle idee; IN, nello spazi

Re: [Fis] Fwd: What is life?

2016-12-17 Thread Robert E. Ulanowicz
Alex, The problem is that information is not an absolute. The same code when measured against different references (English vs. Spanish in this case) will yield different measures. It's the obverse of the Third Law of Thermodynamics. See Bob > T

[Fis] Fwd: What is life?

2016-12-17 Thread Alex Hankey
The problem below is with the definition of the word, 'information'. On an abstract level, a measurable quantity of what Shannon called digital information has been transmitted. Whether the receiver is then 'informed' by it is a question of his ability to interpret it, which depends on semantics. (