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Information: In-form to perform

In: Significance

Author

Listed:
  • Paul Beynon-Davies

    (Cardiff University)

Abstract

Gregory Bateson (Bateson, 1972) in his Ecology of Mind Defines information tantalisingly as any difference that makes a difference. By this he means that an environment with no evidence of, what we referred to in Chapter 4 as modulation, conveys no information. In other words, if the environment is entirely uniform in nature then it will have no effects upon organisms. Fortunately, differences are endlessly transmitted around the physical environment. Differences in the surface of an object become differences in the wavelengths of light. Differences in light signals become differences in stimulation on the sensory cells making up the eye of some organism such as a human. These differences stimulate in turn differences in patterns of activity in the nervous system of the organism which in turn stimulate differences in bodily movement such as posture and locomotion.

Suggested Citation

  • Paul Beynon-Davies, 2011. "Information: In-form to perform," Palgrave Macmillan Books, in: Significance, chapter 8, pages 174-201, Palgrave Macmillan.
    • Handle: RePEc:pal:palchp:978-0-230-29502-5_8
    DOI: 10.1057/9780230295025_8
    as

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