Hi Magnus, Jonathan, all
>Anyway, as time passes, the entropy or disorder of
>a system is supposed to increase, and a system with
>maximum entropy is a system with only white noise,
>i.e. no information.
>But information theory, or rather compression
>techniques compresses information by removing
>redundancy, i.e. order. So, a maximally compressed
>system is also a system with only white noise, but
>such a system contains a maximum amount of
>information.
>So, is a system with maximum entropy full of
>information or empty?
in Edgar Morin's "L Methode", we can find an example
of the priciple that Von Foerster called "order from
noise":
Consider a number of lightweight cubes covered with a
magnetic material and polarized in a way in which two
opposed sides always have opposed signals.
Put all the cubes in a box.
Close the box and shake it for a while.
During this shaking, the cubes associate according to
an aleatory and stable architecture. After another
shake, more cubes "enter" the system and complete it
until all cubes constitute an original unit,
unpredictable "a priori", ordered and organized at the
same time.
The requirements for such construction were:
1. Determinations and impositions of the material
elements (cubic shape, metallic material and
diferential magnetization)
2. A possibility of selective interactions capable of
joining these elements under some circumstances
(magnetic interactions)
3. Non-directional energy input (shakes)
4. Production (thanks to this energy) of numerous
encounters, of which a minority establishes
selectively stable interactions, which become,
therefore, organizational.
Therefore, order, disorder and organization have
co-produced themselves simultaneously and
reciprocally.
Morin calls it a mutual co-production ring: order -
disorder - interactions - organization - (back to)
order - ...
Once constituted, organization and its order are
capable of resistance to great number of disorders.
This ring leads to the formation of higher and higher
levels of organizations: ... - hidrogen - helium -
carbon - amino acids - proteins - cells - ...
----------
After reading Magnus' post, I remembered this and I
went for the book.. couldn't resist sharing it with
you. Sorry for this being out of the topic.. I'll try
to adress it in the weekend.
Ciao,
joao
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