Bits, Bytes, and Other Distinctions which make a Difference From the Laws of Form to a Sociocybernetic Concept of Inform

1. ISA – International Sociological Association RC51 on Sociocybernetics XVIth WORLD CONGRESS OF SOCIOLOGY The Quality of Social Existence in a Globalising World Durban, South Africa, July 23-29, 2006 Bits, Bytes, and Other Distinctions which make a DifferenceFrom the Laws of Form to a Sociocybernetic Concept of Information Bernd R. Hornung Giessen and Marburg University Hospital GmbH, Germany

2. This paper is available at: URL: http://www.unizar.es/sociocybernetics/

3. The Babylon ofInformationKnowledgeCyberand other societies ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

4. SHANNON INFORMATION and Technical Communication Sender Receiver Channel Set of Signs Set of Signs Info Avail. Encode Decode Sign(s) across the channel = Message NEW ? If YES = Information ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

5. AN ALTERNATIVE: STONIER INFORMATIONIncluding Shannon as Special Case • Growth of Crystals • Genetic Code • - Negentropy/Structure/Regularity ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

6. CONDENSATION AND CHUNKING Condensation (Spencer-Brown): (a + b – c) * 3 = G Write „G“ instead of the full equation Chunking (Miller): Houses & Streets & People = Village Say „Village“ instead of listing details ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

7. Traditional Concepts A difference, pattern, bit making a difference • Information as a general concept • Information as a specific concept • Knowledge • Meaning • Sign • Symbol One selection, bit, chunk, condensation An area of inter-related chunks of inform. Network of relations starting from one chunk Something representing a specific chunk of inf. Something representig a conglomerate of inf. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

8. A non-Luhmannian Approachbased on Spencer-Brown

9. What about Spencer-Brown ? • A mathematician discovering the roots of math • Which has important philosophical implications • It permits a constructivist consistent explanation from the monistic to the binary and to complexity • From the blank sheet – „SPACE“ - to distinctions, complex expressions of dist., numbers, higher mathemtics and imaginary numbers • The „Calculus of Indications“ uses non-binary indications (marks, „crosses“), it leads: • From „primary arithmetics“ to „primary algebra“ (incl. variables) and to „Re-entry“ (recursive functions) • Logic is NOT the basis but a branch of mathematics • Mathematics and Logic - not „things“ but cognitions ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

10. The Mathematical Calculus of Indications • The mathematical „Calculus of Distinctions“ permits to develop the concepts of: • Numbers • Imaginary numbers • Paradoxes (involving oscillations leading to ... ) • Space (in the normal sense) • Time (in the normal sense) • Logic • The Rest of „Normal“ and complex mathematics ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

11. Draw (a) Distinction(s) SpaceSB RealityW Me The Epistemic SubjectG The Observed World - ActualityW - Me Self-observed Empirical self Re-enteredSB ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

12. Clarify the Scene SpaceSB RealityW Me: The Epistemic SubjectG Tunneling The Observed World Me: The Empirical self ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

13. The Inside and the Outside Observer SpaceSB RealityW Me: Epistemic SubjectG Observed World Other Humans Inside Experience The Observed World Information Me Empirical self Outside Inside Self -repres. Me: The Empirical self Objects ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

14. We don´t look out to the world ... ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

15. REALITY We look inside the world ... Science and Ontology Epistemic Subject ACTUALITY Empirical Subjects/Observers ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

16. Observing and Distinguishing the World SpaceSB RealityW Me: Epistemic SubjectG World Other Humans The Observed World Me Empirical self Information Me: The Empirical self Objects ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

17. Inside: The Empirical Self SpaceSB RealityW Me: Epistemic SubjectG World MIND - Perception - Sensation - Thinking - Feeling Inside from Outside The Psychologist´s View The Observed World Empirical self Me: The Empirical self BODY Other Human ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

18. Outside: Objects and Embodied Knowledge SpaceSB RealityW Me: Epistemic SubjectG World Information (Scientific) Knowledge The Observed World Meaning Signs Me: The Empirical self Empirical self Symbols ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

19. Sociocybernetic Concepts Any distinction, e.g. a bit • Information as a general concept • Information as a specific concept • Knowledge • Meaning • Sign • Symbol A specific (set of) distinctions, e.g. a concept An area of inter-related sets of distinctions Network of relations starting from a distinction Something repres. a specific (set of) distinctions Something repr. a conglomerate of distinctions ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

20. REFERENCES SPENCER-BROWN, George: Laws of Form - Gesetze der Form, Übersetzung: Thomas Wolf, Bohmeier Verlag, Lübeck 1997 [1/1969] LAU, Felix: Die Form der Paradoxie, Eine Einführung in die Mathematik und Philosophie der "Laws of Form" von George Spencer Brown, Mit einem Vorwort von Peter Fuchs, 1. Aufl., Carl-Auer-Systeme Verlag, Heidelberg 2005 SHANNON, Claude E.; WEAVER, Warren: The Mathematical Theory of Communication, Fourth printing of the paperback edition, University of Illinois Press, Urbana, Ill. 1969 [1/1949] STONIER, Tom: Information and the Internal Structure of the Universe, An Exploration into Information Physics, Springer- Verlag, Berlin, Heidelberg, New York, Tokyo 1990 ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics

21. Beach Party !!!! ENDE FIN THE END ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics