INFORMATION (Selective content of)
| Collection | International Encyclopedia of Systems and Cybernetics |
|---|---|
| Year | 2004 |
| Vol. (num.) | 2(1) |
| ID | ◀ 1672 ▶ |
| Object type | General information |
- “A measure of the unforeseeableness of a representation” (D. Mac KAY, 1969, p.176).
Mac KAY states: “This is a relative measure, depending on the number of distinct results which are regarded as equally probable by the observer.
- “The result observed is thought of as specifying one of a number of possibilities already contemplated by the observer as forming an ensemble in defined proportions” (p.174).
By “ensemble” Mac KAY means: “A set of possibilities, each of which has a defined probability” (p.175).
The concept is close to VENDRYES' one of “subjective probability”: Probable (more or less so) is any event which did not yet occured (or, from a different viewpoint, has not yet been observed).
Mac KAY still adds: “Selective information-content in fact measures not a stuff but a relation, and is not defined unless both terminals of the relation are specified” (p.77). See “Formation of meanings”.
In a slightly different meaning, information is selective as it carries “difference, distinction, order, constraint, pattern, etc…” (G. ANDERSEN, 1995).
G. BATESON made a similar point when defining information as “Any difference that makes a difference” (1979, p.228)