Key Terms and Concepts 15
“6x9” b2861 The Cell Language Theory: Connecting Mind and Matter
causing or “catalyzing” the transformation. Thus, steps f and g can be
associated with “information” as defined by CTI. Also, since these steps
are often (if not always) associated with selection, they can be associated
with Shannon information. Steps f and g represent “interactions” and not
“communications” as pointed out above. Hence it would be logical to
conclude that the information associated with steps f and g are “meaning
less”. This contrasts with the information flow resulting from the
combined interactions among steps f, g, and h, which is “meaningful
information” by definition.
It is my opinion that some of the confusions that plague many dis
cussions involving “information” may be due to conflating these two
types of information. So, in order to help facilitate coherent and logical
discourses on information and related topics in science and philosophy
(e.g., communication, interaction, entropy, etc.), I recommend that two
kinds of information be recognized: (i) meaningful information and
(ii) meaningless information, and that the former be referred to as the
Peircean information (to acknowledge the fundamental role of Peirce’s
definition of the sign in defining “meaning”) and the latter as the
Shannon information (to acknowledge Shannon’s information theory
that quantifies the amount of information, intentionally excluding its
meaning [38]).
2.2 What Is Information?
2.2.1 The General Characteristics of Information
(1) Information is anything that reduces uncertainty in the mind of the
receiver.
(2) Information is carried by a message (or a sign).
(3) A message is carried by a signal (which acts as a sign for a receiver).
(4) A signal is transmitted through a channel.
(5) A message originates from the message source, also called the
sender.
(6) The material system that allows the sender and the receiver (also
called the user, the destination, etc.) to exchange information is called
the communication system.
b2861_Ch-02.indd 15 17-10-2017 11:38:58 AM