Cell Language Theory, The: Connecting Mind And Matter

The Philosophical Implications of the Cell Language Theory 435

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giving rise to the concepts of Shannon entropy, Shannon information, or

information-theoretical entropy).

A small number of physicists recently proposed that the basic laws of

physics may be derived based on the concept of information. Caticha [425]

derived the equations of quantum mechanics based on Shannon informa-

tion and the principle of maximum entropy. R. Frieden [426] derived many

basic laws of physics starting from Fisher information [427], including the

equations of classical mechanics, quantum mechanics, and general relativ-

ity. In these and related writings, the terms “information” and “entropy”

tend to get used interchangeably without any rigorous definition of the

relation between them. Such loose usages of the terms may be harmless

under most situations in mathematics and computer science but may lead

to serious problems in physics, philosophy of science, and biology, espe-

cially when information is claimed to be linked to the entropy of the sec-

ond law of thermodynamics (for a critical review of this problem, see

[369]). This is why I think it is imperative that we have some rational basis

of classifying the various versions of entropies and informations, widely

discussed in contemporary literature in science and philosophy.

The purpose of this section is to suggest a possible philosophical

framework to classify informations and entropies. It is suggested here that

there are three distinct classes of entropies — thermodynamic, statistical

mechanical, and mathematical. The philosophical framework that can

provide a rational basis for classifying informations and entropies is con-

structed from the following three logical elements:

1. The complementarian (also called triune) logic. The principle of gen-
   eralized complementarity states that the ultimate reality, C, is the
   complementary union of irreconcilably opposite pair, A and B. When
   A and B are energy and information, C is referred to as gnergy [7] (see
   Figure 10.26).


2. The triadic logic of Peirce [94–96]. All phenomena exhibit three basic,
   irreducible and inseparable, elements: (a) Firstness, (b) Secondness,
   and (c) Thirdness (see Table 10.8 and Figure 10.23).


3. The principle of recursion or recursivity [428]. The complementarian
   logic and Peirce’s triadic logic are inseparably (or recursively) inter-
   twined like the two surfaces of the Möbius band.

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