The Information James Gleick, The Information
I've started reading the books I had piled up, one by one. The Information first. I'll take my time, chew and taste it.
#From the translator's note
What we call the past consists of bits. (John Archibald Wheeler)
What dramatically changed the speed of information transmission was not the invention of the telegraph but the discovery that all information can be represented as a one-dimensional array of 0s and 1s. In other words, that all information can be expressed as numbers. Shannon quantified entropy for all information on the basis of a measure of ignorance. (James Gleick, The Information, 2011)
The fundamental problem of communication is reproducing at one point, exactly or approximately, a message selected at another point.
Frequently the messages have meaning. (Claude Shannon, 1984)
Now that the process of money itself evolving from matter into bits stored in computer memory and magnetic strips is maturing, and the world's finance runs through a global nervous system, economics is recognizing itself as a kind of information engineering. (Shannon)
(Charles's first reading note, 20190208)
The fundamental problem of messaging — communication — lies not in accurate transmission but in accurate expression.
Money itself acts as information. In that case, what about "shares" or "likes" on social media? What if we can express certain actions or matters numerically? For example, what if the actions of people in social enterprises or cooperatives could be treated on par with currency? It might reduce to something like local currency.. but perhaps we could find an alternative to the limits of existing local currencies or virtual currencies? Or it may be the very problem inherent in the semiotics of the word "xx currency" itself. In the end, it can resemble currency, but can't substitute for it..
#From the prologue
"The invention of printing, though ingenious, compared with the invention of letters, is no great matter." (Thomas Hobbes, 17th century philosopher)
Every new medium changes the nature of thinking. (Gleick)
(Charles's first reading note, 20190208)
The influence of language on region and society would not be different. And doesn't this share its roots with semiotics?
Is the ultimate target of communication a clear fact, or the emotion it triggers?
For instance, if "it's warm" at the South Pole is transmitted to Africa as "it's warm," has information been transmitted accurately?
I think this is the point where the already-completed-looking transmission medium must now innovate.
I wonder whether we are shifting from an age of transaction to an age of calibration.
