2. Bits, Bytes, and Other Distinctions which make a Difference From the Laws of Form to a Sociocybernetic Concept of Information Bernd R. Hornung Giessen and Marburg University Hospital GmbH, Germany 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

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

4. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics3 The Babylon of Information Knowledge Cyber and other societies

5. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics4 Information SHANNON INFORMATION and Technical Communication Sender Receiver Channel Encode Decode Set of Signs Set of Signs Sign(s) across the channel = Message NEW ? If YES = Info Avail.

6. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics5 AN ALTERNATIVE: STONIER INFORMATION Including Shannon as Special Case - Growth of Crystals - Genetic Code - Negentropy/Structure/Regularity

7. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics6 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

8. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics7 Traditional Concepts 1)Information as a general concept 2)Information as a specific concept 3)Knowledge 4)Meaning 5)Sign 6)Symbol One selection, bit, chunk, condensation A difference, pattern, bit making a difference 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.

9. A non-Luhmannian Approach based on Spencer-Brown

10. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics9 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

11. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics10 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

12. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics11 Draw (a) Distinction(s) Space SB Me Reality W The Epistemic Subject G The Observed World - Actuality W - Me Self-observed Empirical self Re-entered SB

13. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics12 Clarify the Scene Space SB Reality W Me: The Epistemic Subject G The Observed World Me: The Empirical self Tunneling

14. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics13 The Inside and the Outside Observer Space SB Reality W Me: Epistemic Subject G The Observed World Me: The Empirical self Me Empirical self Inside Self -repres. Observed World Objects Information Other Humans Outside Inside Experience

15. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics14 We don´t look out to the world...

16. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics15 We look inside the world... REALITY ACTUALITY Epistemic Subject Empirical Subjects/Observers Science and Ontology

17. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics16 Observing and Distinguishing the World Space SB Reality W Me: Epistemic Subject G The Observed World Me: The Empirical self Me Empirical self World Information Other Humans Objects

18. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics17 Inside: The Empirical Self Space SB Reality W Me: Epistemic Subject G The Observed World Me: The Empirical self Empirical self World Other Human Inside from Outside The Psychologist´s View BODY - Perception - Sensation - Thinking - Feeling MIND

19. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics18 Outside: Objects and Embodied Knowledge Space SB Reality W Me: Epistemic Subject G The Observed World Me: The Empirical self Empirical self World Information Signs Symbols (Scientific) Knowledge Meaning

20. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics19 Sociocybernetic Concepts 1)Information as a general concept 2)Information as a specific concept 3)Knowledge 4)Meaning 5)Sign 6)Symbol A specific (set of) distinctions, e.g. a concept Any distinction, e.g. a bit 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

21. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics20 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

22. ISA RC51 on Sociocybernetics21 ENDE FIN THE END Beach Party !!!!