Information: abstraction or reality?: the paradoxes of a fundamental concept

Abstract

The concept of information incites discussion in quite a few scientific realms. In physics, the relationship between information and entropy has been around for years. Information has been associated traditionally by communication engineers, with the freedom of choosing symbols to construct a message. To confuss matters further, Shannon used entropy as a metaphor in his analysis of statistical behavior of symbols. In contrast to communication engineers, Stonier, in his recent book “Information and the internal structure of the universe”, points out the possibility of a different relationship between information and entropy. The author asserts that the definition of information should be analogous to the physical definition of energy. Energy is defined as the capability of performing work, whereas the capability of organizing systems corresponds to information. We can find different kinds of energy (electromagnetic, mechanic, thermal, chemical...), there exist as well different kinds of information (human, social, biological...). Evenmore, it is necessary to discern between the reality of information on its own, and the meaning of information inside each context. One of the most striking contexts are biological systems, which rely on sophysticated information procesing mechanisms not well-understood yet. (Author)