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The analog-to-digital transition and the change in information dynamics:

Implications for

informational environmentalism

Cristian Suteanu

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INFORMATION

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The result of processing, manipulating and organizing data in a way that adds to the knowledge of the person receiving it.

A message received and understood.

Knowledge acquired through study or experience or instruction.

The output of information systems.

That which is extracted from a compilation of data in response to a specific need.

A measure of how surprising something is.

Data that have been processed and presented in a form suitable for human interpretation, often with the purpose of revealing trends or patterns.

Any communication or representation of knowledge such as facts, data, or opinions in any medium or form.

A logarithmic measure of improbability.

Messages used as the basis for decision-making.

The sum of concepts and response rules extracted from a communication.

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Information flux

= specification of change.

Density of information flux

corresponds to the occurring change.

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Chosen approach:

- Focusing on what information does, not on what information is.

- Concentrating on the informational nature of change.

- Distinguishing information flux from information representation and information storage.

-Identifying processes related to changes in information flux. _

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ChangeIdenticalness

Copy

Difference

Distinctiveness

INFORMATION FLUX

No information “added” Information “added”

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QUESTION:

How can one generate new entities and produce change

with as little information flux as possible? _

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Saving information flux

SOLUTION NUMBER 1:

MAKE COPIES

=> use similarity

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similarity

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Similarity

or strict identicalness?

Material objects cannot be

identical.

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Human solutions

Mass production

Standardization

Imitation

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"The book was the first mass-produced commodity"

McLuhan, 1964

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THIS TEXT IS A SET OF DISCRETE ENTITIES

THIS TEXT IS A SET OF DISCRETE ENTITIES

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THIS TEXT IS A SET OF DISCRETE ENTITIES

THIS TEXT IS A SET OF DISCRETE ENTITIES

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similar /

identical

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Saving information flux

SOLUTION NUMBER 2:

GO DIGITAL

=> use finite # of states

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digitus (finger)

Analog system: uses a continuous range of values to represent information.

Digital system: uses discrete (discontinuous) values to represent information.

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In the material world,

systems can be identical to each other

if they can only have

a finite number of states.

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Saving information flux

SOLUTION NUMBER 3:

MAKE digital COPIES

=> use identicalness

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Entities that are truly indiscernible:

- microscopic particles;

- numbers.

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?2 2 2

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Numbers are indiscernible.

So is the digital form

of information.

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Entities supporting digital information

fulfill this condition:

sounds, images – on CD, DVD, digital memory. _

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similar /

identical

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Copies = dilution of information flow.

The more similar the copies,

the stronger the dilution.

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Fight for biodiversity,

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for cultural diversity,

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…but there is a thinning information flux.

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Customizable features

- operating systems, computer programs: identicalness with the flavour of diversity;

- digital TV: enhanced uniformity. _

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Search for authenticity:

differences dissolved in a sea of identical copies.

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• drowning in a sea of information due to accelerated change ?

• suffering from an ever-diluted information flux? _

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Information management could be more important

than we believe now?

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Informational environmentalism

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• acting in relation to environmental issues relies on informational processes;

• responsibility depends oninformational processes _

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• the informational environment is unavoidably coupled to our existence;

• while avoiding physical influence on the environment is only possible within limits, avoiding informational interaction is probably out of the question; _

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Information is the key type of environment that should be managed as carefully as possible _

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Thank you!

Picture credits

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SYMMETRY:

Retains a certain feature

after changing the way of looking at it.

Over time, space, scale. _

• If there were limits to the available information flux, solutions:

- generating entities that are identical / similar:

- generating entities that are self-affine:

- generating opposites:

SYMMETRY

=> generation of entities

with a limited information flux.

Nature's solutions:

• similarity;

• self-affinity.

self-affine

self-affine