INFON
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1650 ▶ |
| Object type | General information, Epistemology, ontology or semantics |
- “A postulated general information particle”. S. BRIER, in his review of T. TONER's book on “Information and Meaning ” discussed the proposed new term (1998, p. 82)
He writes: “ The Infon is defined very much along the lines of how originally in the sciences the conceptualization of human work has reduced to form the general concept of energy in nature”.
Reflecting on the progressive use, extension and deepening concept of energy, for comparison, BRIER observes that this was a productive, but quite strenuous process because it took place within the mechanistic framework of 19th Century science. He adds similar comments about the difficult progress of Planck's quantum during the 20th Century.
It is clear that the different forms of information transmission (languages , the semiochemicals (another neologism!) electronic devices have a basic common feature…whose deeper meaning could probably need many more years to be better understood.
For now BRIER is questioning “ the fruitfulness of the objective informational approach to give us aframework that can solve our problems of understanding evolution , intelligence, consciousness, man-machine interface and cooporation, plus the enlightment of our understanding of signification and information processing in general” (p.85)