Is a unified theory of information feasible? A trialogue

Capurro, Rafael; Fleissner, Peter; Hofkirchner, Wolfgang

doi:10.1080/02604027.1997.9972632

Cited by 36 publications

(37 citation statements)

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“…While the question of whether or not a UTI is feasible was answered in a controversial way by Capurro, Fleissner and Hofkirchner [52], Fleissner and Hofkirchner tried to lay the foundations for a project of unification reconciling legitimate claims of existing information concepts underlying science and technology with those characteristic of social sciences, humanities, and arts [53,54]. They have been doing so by resorting to complex systems theory.…”

Section: Information Definitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

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Floridi’s “Open Problems in Philosophy of Information”, Ten Years Later

Dodig-Crnković

Hofkirchner

2011

Information

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In his article Open Problems in the Philosophy of Information [1] LucianoFloridi presented a Philosophy of Information research program in the form of eighteen open problems, covering the following fundamental areas: Information definition, information semantics, intelligence/cognition, informational universe/nature and values/ethics. We revisit Floridi's program, highlighting some of the major advances, commenting on unsolved problems and rendering the new landscape of the Philosophy of Information (PI) emerging at present. As we analyze the progress of PI we try to situate Floridi's program in the context of scientific and technological development that have been made last ten years. We emphasize that Philosophy of Information is a huge and vibrant research field, with its origins dating before Open Problems, and its domains extending even outside their scope. In this paper, we have been able only to sketch some of the developments during the past ten years. Our hope is that, even if fragmentary, this review may serve as a contribution to the effort of understanding the present state of the art and the paths of development of Philosophy of Information as seen through the lens of Open Problems.

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Section: Information Definitionmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…At the fundamental level, information can be said to characterize the world itself, for it is through information we gain all our knowledge-and yet we are only beginning to understand its meaning [52]. Among the unifying strategies statistical models presented in Adriaans [83] should be mentioned.…”

Section: Informationalmentioning

confidence: 99%

Floridi’s “Open Problems in Philosophy of Information”, Ten Years Later

Dodig-Crnković

Hofkirchner

2011

Information

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“…Unified Information Theory tries to use a consistent concept to unify all of the different connotations of information, but it is similar to Zhong's Comprehensive Information Theory in terms of basic analysis while far less profound and systematic than the latter. Therefore, even the founders of Unified Information Theory have doubt about its feasibility, and points out the major obstacles to building a unified theory [9].…”

Section: About the Essence And Connotation Of Informationmentioning

confidence: 99%

Objective information theory: A Sextuple model and 9 kinds of metrics

Shen

et al. 2014

2014 Science and Information Conference

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In the contemporary era, the importance of information is undisputed, but there has never been a common understanding of information, nor a unanimous conclusion to the researches on information metrics. Based on the previous studies, this paper analyzes the important achievements in the researches of the properties and metrics of information as well as their main insufficiencies, and discusses the essence and connotation, the mathematical expressions and other basic problems related to information. On the basis of the understanding of the objectivity of information, it proposes the definitions and a Sextuple model of objective information; discusses the basic properties of information, and brings forward the definitions and mathematical expressions of nine kinds of metrics of information, i.e., extensity, detailedness, sustainability, richness, containability, delay, distribution, validity and matchability. Through these, this paper establishes a basic theory frame of Objective Information Theory to support the analysis and research on information and information system systematically and comprehensively.

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“…Indeed, information is a very rich and widespread phenomenon to be reflected by a restricted rigid definition (cf. for example, [24,25]). …”

Section: Basic Postulates Of the General Theory Of Information (Gti)mentioning

confidence: 99%

Structural and Symbolic Information in the Context of the General Theory of Information

Burgin

Feistel

2017

Information

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Abstract:The general theory of information, which includes syntactic, semantic, pragmatic, and many other special theories of information, provides theoretical and practical tools for discerning a very large diversity of different kinds, types, and classes of information. Some of these kinds, types, and classes are more important and some are less important. Two basic classes are formed by structural and symbolic information. While structural information is intrinsically imbedded in the structure of the corresponding object or domain, symbolic information is represented by symbols, the meaning of which is subject to arbitrary conventions between people. As a result, symbolic information exists only in the context of life, including technical and theoretical constructs created by humans. Structural information is related to any objects, systems, and processes regardless of the existence or presence of life. In this paper, properties of structural and symbolic information are explored in the formal framework of the general theory of information developed by Burgin because this theory offers more powerful instruments for this inquiry. Structural information is further differentiated into inherent, descriptive, and constructive types. Properties of correctness and uniqueness of these types are investigated. In addition, predictive power of symbolic information accumulated in the course of natural evolution is considered. The phenomenon of ritualization is described as a general transition process from structural to symbolic information.

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Is a unified theory of information feasible? A trialogue

Cited by 36 publications

References 0 publications

Floridi’s “Open Problems in Philosophy of Information”, Ten Years Later

Floridi’s “Open Problems in Philosophy of Information”, Ten Years Later

Objective information theory: A Sextuple model and 9 kinds of metrics

Structural and Symbolic Information in the Context of the General Theory of Information

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