A Philosophy of Information: (Information Is the Power That Drives and Controls Us All)

By Bernard T Smith

(re-printed in November 2007 with an impressive Names and Subjects index)

The author's personal website ,which is devoted entirely to his book, is accesible at:

www.theinformationstory.com.

"A topical review of the book, by SIX OF ONE (the prisoner appreciation society), is given under Preview. Other reviews of the book as well as more background to the book, may be reached at the author's blog: aphilosophyofinformation.wordpress.com.

A Philosophy of Information by Bernard Smith tells us how Information Technology (IT) is changing our lives and may be our species. It warns us of many of its dangers which we ignore at our peril. The book should be of interest to everyone using IT .Indeed because, for human beings, information is exactly the same thing as memory; the book should also be of interest to everyone concerned with human mind and memory.

Our memory is the start of our consciousness and is at the heart of our existence. Like computer memory; our memory may be held in many places; not only in the brain where it is processed but in the body and beyond. The right and proper uses of our memory are examined, as are sometimes less laudable connections like dreaming. Minor aberrations of the mind such as compulsion and eccentricity are also considered, as is serious mental illness.

Human memory is shown to be an important part of meditation, as well as a basis for Faith and similar disciplines. The role of memory in manifestations of the paranormal and in the “appearance” of ghosts is also examined. The effects of IT on global warming are discussed and are identified possibly as great a danger to the environment as are the world’s vast emissions of carbon.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Trafford Publishing
• Release date: Nov 22, 2007
• ISBN: 9781412206211

Bernard T Smith

Bernard Smith has spent his entire career working on computers, computer communications, and information technology from their earliest days - firstly for UK central government, and after retirement for several years in Industry. He was a lifelong member and a Fellow of the British Computer Society until a few years after his retirement. He has presented several papers at seminars both for HMG and the British Computer society. He wrote a very early, user friendly, Computer Enquiry language, called SPECOL, details of which were published in 1970 by the then UK Civil Service Department. The language is described in his latest book, A Philosophy of Information.

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Copyright 2007 Bernard T Smith.

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isbn: 978-1-4120-7404-9 (sc)

isbn: 978-1-4122-0621-1 (e)

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Contents

1.   INFORMATION AND REALITY

      (REALITY IS IN THE MIND)

2.   INFORMATION WITHOUT REALITY

     (THE POWER OF IMAGINATION)

3.   KEEPING INFORMATION IN ORDER

     (ORGANISING AND CONTROLLING DATA)

4.   INFORMATION, PEOPLE, AND COMPUTERS

     (COMPARING COMPUTERS AND PEOPLE)

5.   INFORMATION AND THE NEXT OF THE SPECIES

     (COMPUTERS IN PLACE OF PEOPLE)

6.   INFORMATION AND MEMORY

     (MEMORY IN THE KNEE CAP)

7.   INFORMATION, MIND, AND ITS METHODS

     (GATEWAY TO UNDERSTANDING)

8.   INFORMATION AND THE INTELLECT

     (RIGHT AND PROPER USES OF MEMORY)

9.   INFORMATION AND DREAMS

     (DREAMING AND WHAT IT TELLS US)

10.   INFORMATION AND STATES OF MIND

       (MEMORY BEYOND ITS NORMAL ROLE)

11.   INFORMATION, USE AND MISUSE

       (FROM INNOCENCE TO EVIL)

12.   INFORMATION AND THE PARANORMAL

       (INFORMATION IN LIMBO)

13.   INFORMATION AND ILLUSION

       (PERCEPTION, ILLUSION, AND PRETENCE)

14.   INFORMATION AND SOCIETY

       (MILLIONS AND MILLIONS OF DIFFERENT MINDS)

15.   INFORMATION AND THE HUMAN CONDITION

       (AT THE WHIM AND MERCY OF CHANCE)

PostScript

Appendix A:   Principal Findings of the Study

Appendix B:   Paragraph Headings by Chapter

Appendix C:    References

Dedication

I should like to dedicate all my thoughts that follow to all those early selfless dedicated pioneers working in Information Technology long before most people realised the tremendous impact that it was going to have on the world and on all our lives. They gave up so much of their valuable time and energies, often against many obstructions. The results have demonstrated how prescient they were that they were on to something more wonderful and greater than all of us could have imagined.

On a more personal note, I dedicate my book to my two nieces, Dr Jan Wyatt, and Ros Herbert. They, more than all others, sustained my interest when in the later stages of my study it began to show signs of abating. Not only did they encourage me to read much of the contemporary literature that I have referred to in my text, but very frequently they kindly bought it for me.

PREFACE

Strange endeavour

Irresistible

thoughts

That I ever felt compelled to write about such a complex subject as information still amazes me. The compulsion hit me many years ago. It stemmed from my fascination for computers on which I had worked from their earliest beginnings. More particularly, it was while writing an Enquiry language for computers that the curious question of just what is information began to plague my thoughts. Comparisons between computers and the human brain were at their height. Computers, some people thought, were a model of the human brain. Some computers were even called Brainiacs. Much of that thinking has now abated but, whether or not computers work as our brains do, I was bewitched not so much with what computers did as with the stuff on which they worked. Could this stuff be compared with the stuff that our brains work on? From one point of view, this stuff (or whatever we chose to call it) seemed to be identical in brain and computer. In a computer, we called it data. In our brains, and later in computers, we called it memory; but, in all cases, it was a step towards information. A secondary, but very important, contribution to my interest in information came from my interest in dreams. I can hardly think of a night when I have not dreamed. Dreams, like everything else, hold information; but, almost invariably, they are distorted and puzzling. I wondered why this should be. I did not believe that dreams held hidden prophesies, or that they gave us tips on how to find love, good fortune and so forth, but often my dreams were so wild (and sometimes so ingenious) that I could not but wonder. On comparing computers with the mind, I had no difficulty in theorising on how the mind might produce dreams. But why it did it I could only guess. I felt that there was much to learn about information and the ways that our minds use it. Much of what I have written, in Chapter 9 and in subsequent chapters of my book, stems from this line of thought.

Be all and

End all of

Existence

The more I think about information, the more it represents just about everything there was (and is) in the Universe. It is the Be all and End all of existence. There is nothing else. Everything is or can be depicted by information. Information is the life blood of existence. But, in the same way that we may wonder about existence, so may we wonder about information? It has no physical properties. In one sense it is metaphysical, although it is of course just as much about physical as non-physical things. Essentially, information depicts everything that has ever been seen, done, or thought about. In computers and in our brains we manipulate information endlessly. Scenarios or situations can be changed in a flash. We can change them purposely, or sometimes accidentally, as easily and quickly as we change our thoughts. This is fine, but for this reason alone, information is dangerous. It is dangerous because it is so close to our sense of reality and our very being. Completely false, unreal, and inaccurate situations may be conjured up in an instant. What we view as reality in one moment may be changed in the next to something very unreal. This can affect our beliefs, our whole way of life, and even our sanity. I had not intended to get into the depths of philosophy and to wonder why and what we may be doing here, as I have now so obviously done in my text. But, on reflection and being so concerned with information, this was I suppose inevitable. I remember at the tender age of 17 being worried about philosophical issues. I can well remember my mental wrestling and wrangles at the time. It seemed unfair to me that, as human beings, we were privileged to see and experience only one minute part of such a long and continuous story as that of the Universe. It was like watching a single instalment in a serial with an endless number of parts. I wanted to know more about those parts that I would not be permitted to see. However, a war had just started. I was young and raring to do something positive. I had a career to start. I decided to put philosophy on the back burner and get on with living. Doing was more exciting than thinking. Perhaps I would return to philosophy later on, wiser but certainly older. Except for one or two skirmishes with life’s conundrums, along the way, I have kept to my resolve. Now, it seems, I have returned to my mental torments with a vengeance.

An ever

evolving

target

The subject of information and its effect on our lives has no ending. The boundaries and parameters of information are continuously changing and expanding. They are for ever evolving. There are always new facts to be unearthed, analysed, and studied. Life, and certainly the philosophy of it, at least as I understand the term, changes daily before our eyes. Each new invention, each new discovery, each new development, and particularly Information Technology, brings with it new insights, new theories, new problems, and new challenges. We cannot be sure where they are leading us. Indeed, the human race should not be led. We must be aware of these changes, control them, and take the lead. For these reasons, I tried to set out my thoughts more as an on going study rather than a book with established conclusions. In doing this, I know I may be guilty of much repetition. I know that on occasions I have repeated my ideas. I may often have said the same thing in different ways. When we look at information under different headings, and from different angles, repetition is not always out of place. Possibly, it is as necessary as it is inevitable. I can only hope that the reader will bear with me, and join with me, in my study. Provided that I have been consistent, no great harm will have been done. To help matters, I have, wherever I thought it might be useful, made cross references throughout the chapters. I have also assembled in Appendix A what I have termed the Principal findings of the study. This, chapter by chapter, is a voluminous list of truths or near truths that I feel have emerged from the study. It too includes a vast number of cross references that are related in some way to other entries. The findings will it is hoped be added to, and modified by, others in arriving at a philosophy that is of such importance to all of us. It may possibly help us to know why we are here at all.

To have

information

is to be alive

Information has such formidable properties and so much influence on us that to me it just cries out for study. I still want to know more about this remarkable medium, the consequences of its volatility, and the control that it has over all of us. Without information we would not be alive. If we are alive, it is only because we have information.

Precious acknowledgements

On the

shoulders of

those who

came before

My treatise, if I may call it that, brings together thoughts that have occurred to me throughout my life. They are thoughts that came to me in my school days, during World War 2, afterwards in Japan, and later when working abroad mostly in the United States. Back in the UK, travelling back and forth from work, I continued to cudgel my brains. Ideas came to me when analysing and designing information systems, writing software, re-capping my previous day’s achievments, or simply when daydreaming. My thoughts were without doubt greatly influenced by the volumes of articles, scholarly literature, scientific papers and books, that have always accompanied the Electronics phenomenon. The literature produced by and for those working in the Information field was new, exciting, and challenging. It was invaluable to everyone concerned with information systems. Many times, papers were produced out of a love of the work, without reward; but merely with a desire to push forward the frontiers of knowledge in an excitingly new field. For me, such works were an inspiration and a spur to my thoughts. In developing my own ideas I could not begin to name all the many writers and others to whom I am indebted. They, more than anything else, made my journey stimulating and invigorating. Largely from memory, I have made reference throughout the study to authors I know have influenced my thinking. I hope that this at least may be taken as a token of my gratitude to all of them. Alas, I know that there are many others from whom I have gained inspiration, motivation, and knowledge, without even realising the source. Not least, I owe gratitude to so many colleagues at work with whom I often used to engage in high spirited dialogues as to where our work was leading. Probably, at the time, none of us had any real idea of the tremendous impact that our work on computers and the Internet would eventually have on everybody. Truly, we all stand on the shoulders of those who go before us. If however there are errors or faults in my facts, in my thinking, and in my reasoning (which I am sure there are), the blame for them is mine and no one else’s. Responsibility for my errors and any misquoting of facts is entirely my own.

Chapter 1

INFORMATION AND REALITY

(REALITY IS IN THE MIND)

A force for Good and Evil

One of

Nature’s

Wonders

Truth, what is truth asked jesting Pilate but he did not stay for an answer.¹ Similarly there are people alive today who ask, "Information, what is that?" but; like, Pontius Pilate, they do not stay for an answer. The answer goes unheeded, or the question is quickly brushed aside. And yet information (which includes truth and untruth,—and much more besides) is one of life’s great wonders. Arguably it is the most potent agent in nature and, equal to life itself, it is our most valuable possession. Our ability to use information as we do is what separates us from other species and distinguishes us one from another. Some information is always with us; in all places; at all times; and in many forms. We are surrounded by it. Some information may be accessible to us only indirectly, that is by some medium like the radio. But, wherever information comes from, whatever its form and wherever it is acted on, it can have vital consequences not only for human life and the planet but for the whole Universe. Information is the starting point for everything that we say and do. More than that, it is the fuel of the mind. The information that we have in our minds is inseparable from the lives we lead. Sometimes we know we have information; at other times we have it but are unaware that we have it. Sometimes, just knowing it can gladden the heart while the absence of it can breed suspicion and distrust. Sometimes information may be dangerous and unwelcome. Sometimes it is humdrum and unimportant; sometimes it is wisdom; and sometimes as near to truth as we can get. It may be false and sometimes it is a mixture of them all, good and bad. But at all times it guides us; it colours our outlook; forms our opinions; and determines our behaviour. Not only is information the fuel of our mind but it has critical links with our bodies, our health and our well being. It is reality; and our reason for living. And yet despite its profusion and significance, information has properties that are at odds with the laws of Science. It is boundless and infinite and yet seemingly occupies no space. The message it conveys is invisible, colourless, ethereal, non-stable, intangible, indestructible, and indefinable, although something about it may of course be retained in our minds or written down and recorded. The following pages will try to throw a little light on this strange commodity that we call information that plays such an important part in all our lives. In so doing we hope that, unlike Pilate, someone will stay. Perhaps someone may take our story further; studying, not only the nature and properties of information, but also the effect that it has on all of us

In the

beginning was

the Word

²

Information comes to us in endless ways. It comes to us via light waves reflected by physical objects. It comes to us via our senses, of sight, hearing, smell, taste and touch. It influences, and is influenced by, our thinking and our emotions. It is intertwined in both. It comes to us through all the emanations, particles, and wave forms that abound in nature. In DNA, it is "the book of life"- a chemical blue print of each of our bodies, that has emerged from the deciphering of the human genetic code³. All objects in the universe "impart" information of their existence although we should at this stage perhaps talk about data rather than information. Not until data is structured in some meaningful way can it rightfully be called information. There is so much data in the Universe that in order to protect us from utter confusion our senses fortunately are limited. The mass of data that our minds can absorb in a lifetime is probably finite, although some minds are no doubt better at absorbing it than others. Of all the information that there is in our Universe probably only a tiny amount of it is sensed or perceived. Some species are able to detect emanations that the human species cannot; and undoubtedly there are many forms of emanation still to be discovered. This does not mean that the information we have about the universe is restricted by the limits of our senses. By using special techniques and tools, by communicating with others, and by using our imagination, we are able to explore much further than our primary perceptions permit. As our story unfolds we will see that the information that we acquire is often open to conflicting interpretations. By no means do all things mean the same thing to all people. Some objects too, such as some nuclear materials, send out data very fast. Some radiation is extremely slow; and some is hardly perceptible at all; but, in all cases, objects send out data about themselves merely by being there. The data that all objects hold is a reliable form of memory, and usually far more stable than human memory. Wherever data comes from and no matter how it is delivered,—in DNA, by light waves, sound waves, particles, or whatever, it has to be interpreted before it has meaning and before it can be acted on. The human mind is one interpreter but it is by no means the only one.

Information is

everywhere

Information is a part of everything. It permeates every single object, action, thought, or thing in the Universe and not least the human mind. It is an essential part of our existence, and an essential part of our consciousness. We may find it in books, newspapers, cartoons, pictures, music, computers, or anywhere at all. The information that we have about the external physical world, which for the purpose of this chapter we will call reality, resides in and describes every single object in the universe including ourselves. To inform, which is a part of the word information, means to impart information. Information is about the form of an object. A person is a person. A chair is a chair. A desk is a desk. Seemingly, without a moment’s thought, when we see a chair, we know that it is for sitting on, and a desk is for working at. We also have some idea of what a chair and a desk are made of, and how perhaps they are made. No information is written down but, instinctively—to someone or something that understands or has a memory of that form, the right information is immediately imparted. Our ability to identify, interpret, and understand form or shape to which we will return later is an essential part of our story. Apart from being associated with physical objects, information consists of thoughts, ideas, and concepts that have come into our minds merely by thinking, or by talking with friends. Sometimes thoughts appear to have come from nowhere at all. Information is a prerequisite of human consciousness. It has even been asserted⁴ that all objects (human or otherwise) that process information experience consciousness. That is probably going too far. However, information, whether in our mind, our consciousness, or elsewhere, may be repeated and replicated millions and millions of times over. The proliferation of information is unstoppable. Little wonder it may be claimed that it is everywhere.

A continuous

spectrum

It has been said that there are two kinds of information;—one that describes the physical constituent parts of things like say the frame, canvas, oils and paints that go into the making of a picture; and the other that attempts to capture the beauty of the picture, the feelings of ecstasy and joy, or even of horror, that the picture evokes. One kind of information would therefore be about physical things and Science, while the other would be about Art and the emotions that it engenders. Perhaps one might say that this latter feeling is metaphysical, a property we will meet again later. A picture is certainly a good example of two ways of looking at something, in much the same way as we think about people’s physical appearance and their personal qualities. However on closer inspection we see that we are dealing with two extreme aspects of one and the same property. In each case, the information we have is a product of human measurement and perception. At one extreme our perceptions are firm, physically measurable properties. At the other extreme, our perceptions are less tangible, artistic, emotional, and subjective. But, no matter how our perceptions arise; whether they are based on Science, Art, or Inspiration; whether 90% of them are already stored in our memory⁵; or anything else; they are all, adequately, inadequately, faithfully, or falsely, described by information. The depth of our knowledge, our understanding, and the appreciation that we have of anything is nothing more than the information that we have about it. The information that we have may extend from one extreme to the other, from minimum to maximum, from science to art, and from falsehood to fact. The information may be drab and colourless or it may be stimulating and exciting. The message it contains may be crystal clear or ambiguous. Interpretations may differ or merge one into another. Access to information may occur spontaneously or as a result of looking for it; for example, by searching through the countless wavelengths or frequencies on a radio receiver. But, like the electromagnetic spectrum over which it may pass, information is always continuous and interconnected.

Friend

and foe

Information is far reaching; it is ubiquitous; it is a vital part of our lives; but it can be both friend and foe. Like many instruments and tools we use in our daily lives, information may be a force for good or evil. It tells us about all the wonderful things in the world as well as the bad. It can bring us great comfort, encouragement, and joy; it can lead us to great discoveries and invention; and it can help us to solve our problems. It can warn us of great danger and can save us from disaster. It can help us to find beauty in nature and in the human spirit. It enables us to reason and to philosophise. But, either accidentally or deliberately, it can also be dangerous. It becomes a hazard when it is blindly and unthinkingly accepted as truth; when it is dogma; when it forbids discussion and argument; when people see it as the only thing in their lives; and when, as sometimes through language, it lays down such hard and fast customs and ritual that people become slaves to it. Even worse, information may be deliberately used against us. It can be distorted to enable someone to gain power and to take unfair advantage. It can be spiteful; it can be manipulated; it can be falsified; it can wrongly accuse; it can threaten; it can demoralise; and, it can frighten. It is more powerful than the sword. In ruthless hands it can be a truly horrible weapon. We will have more to say about the unsavoury and undignified roles of information in later chapters.

Information is our existence

Key to Oneself

The information that we obtain from the external world, or from our own reasoning, may not be as sufficient or informative as we would like. We may not be entirely sure what information we want. The objects on which we seek information may be hard to define. They may appear vague, flimsy, and shadowy; but, if we are aware at all of an object, then merely by being aware of it we have information about it. That information is in our minds. Having information in the mind is the only way of knowing that anything exists at all. It is the key to oneself. In fact, our existence is nothing more than the information that we have about ourselves. In his world famous axiom, Cogito Ergo Sum (I think, therefore I am), Déscartes⁶ was concerned with proving that he was alive. Pursuing his line of thought, we could go on to say;

I have information—therefore I live; and conversely,

I live—therefore I have information

To know something, to know anything at all, is to live. If we have (and know that we have) information we may rightfully conclude that we are living. We may also safely say that without information we would not be living. It continues from the beginning of our lives to the end of them. There are no breaks in between. It is one long continuous story that matches our lifetime. When we exist, not only do we and our minds exist but the information that we have also exists. The information is a record of all our experiences, joys, and sorrows. It is the key to our appreciation and knowledge of the world. All the input that comes to us via our senses and from our thinking is somehow immediately stored as data in our memory for later recollection, reflection, and comparison. Without this data, and without the ability of our minds to interpret and understand it, we would have no being. There would, for us individually at least, be no existence, no consciousness, and no reality. We would not exist.

Key to

Reality

The only way to reality then is through information. Information is our only link with reality. It is what we accept is reality and it may be as near to reality that we can get. To recognise the touching of a piece of wood, to bang one’s head against a wall, to breathe the sea air, to see the sun rise, to relish a tasty meal, to have an idea, to think wise thoughts, in fact to do anything at all, requires the mental processing of information and its association with all that has gone before. There is an important biological link between the mind’s information and our bodily senses that is lacking in say computers to which we will be referring in later chapters. It is this biological link that gives human beings their emotions, their feelings and their sense of reality. Nevertheless, whenever we experience or feel something, what we are really doing is processing and evaluating information in the brain. It may seem like a vicarious way of enjoying our pleasures, of taking food, or of suffering our misfortunes, but without first routeing this information via the brain we would feel no sensation at all. We would have no being. As if to prove this point our information may sometimes be false; but then, when it is, so is the reality. For example,—if a limb or a part of our body is amputated, our brain is often slow to change its information and we can be led quite wrongly to believe that the amputated part of our body is still there. The same sort of thing occurs when we have an aching good tooth,—a case of what the dentist calls referred pain. What better illustration could there be of the misinterpreting of data or of applying the wrong time and space to it? Such is the strong link between information and our sense of reality. All the information that we have—on the air that we breathe, the food that we eat, the water that we drink, our likes and our dislikes, all our activities and the state of our being, is transparent to us and is stored away automatically in our "mind" with very little conscious effort on our part. But without this information we would have no consciousness. We would be nothing.

Key to

other worlds

Like the lives that we lead, information is a continuous stream. The information we have runs alongside and often overlaps with that of other people. It is the lifeblood of all of us. But each human being, like the totality of information we hold, is unique. Each human being (and possibly every creature on earth) lives in a separate world of its own. In a human being, this is the world of the mind. The only practical and meaningful way of getting into (or out of) other people’s worlds is through information. Information is the key that admits us into these secret worlds. At least, it is the key to a limited admission. We can never know fully and exactly what is there. We observe the same information as do other people. We share it with people; we derive similar ideas from it; and, we derive even more information from that which we share. However, the information that we have in our minds can never be exactly the same as that which is in the minds of other people. Each of us, in our own privately developed world, deals with information differently. We interpret and work on it in our own particular way. We create our own world. We hold the key that allows others to enter our world, at least partially, if we so wish. We can do this only by taking in, giving out, or, exchanging information. There is no other way except perhaps by the use of drugs, a topic that we deal with separately in a later chapter.

Key to truth

Information as we have seen is an integral part of our existence. The way that we treat information, organise it, handle it, and pass it on to others, determines what we are and what we become. It is our only way to truth. It is vital that we should treat information with respect and that in our individual lives we should keep it as current, correct, and as uncomplicated as we can. The success of plans that we form, and actions we take, depends on the way we view and organise our information. Efficiency and integrity often go hand in hand with a clarity and simplicity of thought. Like successful businesses, the most successful living organisms (which include ourselves) are those that organise their information wisely and work in uncomplicated ways. If our personal information structures and means of access are complex, if our thought processes are complicated, so are our lives. If we cannot see things clearly we become confused and we are likely to achieve very little. Our minds have had remarkable success in what they have achieved so far. However, as the amount of our information we have increases enormously from every direction, and as the type and nature of our information changes dramatically with each passing day, we face increasing difficulties but also new challenges and opportunity. We will have more to say about better ways of organising and handling information in Chapter 3, and also about the need to avoid complexity in Chapter 4.

Beyond the laws of Science

No limits to

information’s

power

Looked at in its widest sense, information is arguably the most powerful force in the world. From the smallest mote of information to the greatest volumes of published works, from DNA to the humblest formulae, it can have consequences far beyond the information itself. Once it enters the human mind it is the basis of our understanding and our consciousness. Information can enlighten and delight great numbers of people but it can also set in train earth shattering phenomena for the human race as well as for the world as a whole. The media that carry information (the Press, Magazines, Radio, TV, the Town crier, or ourselves, and so on) are not vital in themselves. It is the information they pass that counts. Daily newspapers are a good example. The paper and ink of newspapers that convey the information are trivial and worthless,—except perhaps that households do often find a convenient use for old papers. The information the papers carry however can set the world alight. It may be information that can greatly affect the way we live. It may be information that it will become a catalyst for far reaching unpredictable events, confrontation, and the stirring up of emotion. Information and emotion go hand in hand. Information is a trigger for action and a touch paper for emotion. Understood, ordered, and properly controlled, information can be of great benefit to every one. Carelessly treated it spells chaos. We will have much more to say about the emotional power of information throughout our story. Such is the mystery and power of information that we are exploring.

No law of

conservation

One of the most basic properties of information is that it is infinite and unbounded. In the physical world we have the Law of the Conservation of Energy and Matter, which is like a two person game of Zero sum (If I have an object and you take it; you have it and I don’t). There is however no such law as the Conservation of Information⁷. In the world of information that we are considering, if someone gives us information then we both have it. Unlike a parcel that may be passed from one person to another, like Aristotle’s law of the excluded middle (where something is either A or B), information has no such constraints. It can be a mixture of A and B. It can be duplicated, triplicated, and reproduced without end. Although human beings have been aware of their ability to pass on information from earliest times, it is perhaps only with the advent of computers (with their limitless power for reproducing and changing information quickly and in massive volumes) that the full implication of the endless nature of information has been fully realised. We will be referring frequently throughout our story to the computer’s use of information and to some interesting comparisons that we can make between computers and the human mind. It is ironic that the computer, which we once thought had arrived in time to save the world from being deluged in paper, should now also be contributing to the mounting problems of data saturation. It seems to be an eternal paradox of life that inventions intended to save humankind from problems so often end up introducing more. If however, in this latest twist of invention, the computer can help us to find out more about the nature of information and how our minds process it we should be grateful.

Immovable,

indestructible,

and infinite

Information, whether it is in a computer or in the mind, is in one sense immovable and indestructible. It may be recorded on some object and that object can be moved but, unlike ordinary physically separate objects, we never see information move. It does not move physically. To give an example from computing; it is quite impossible in computing, despite impressions to the contrary, for data to be moved either within a computer or to another computer. Indeed, electronic data is not moved from one place to another at all. It is copied. The original data remains at the point of sending. It may if required be overwritten with blanks or other data, giving the impression that the original data has gone but this is an illusion. What was originally recorded is still there at the place from where it was transmitted and there it remains viable and readable until it is written over by new data. In other words, a computer has to be programmed to forget. But at least a computer, unlike the human mind, can be programmed to forget. Computer data can be eradicated although even here, as we will note in Chapter 4, some small physical particles of its memory (like the harmonics of a sound wave) are known theoretically to remain for ever. In ancient times, they used to say of anything what’s done can’t be undone. With information, we may say "what is said cannot be unsaid." Information once released into the world can never be completely destroyed. It may be modified. It may become inoperative, not applicable, and worthless; but it can never be deliberately destroyed. It is indestructible. Much to the anguish of people and nations who would like to remove the past, it is not possible to re-start completely afresh. Information about crimes and wrong doings, as well as fine achievements, can always be recalled and re-embellished. History is with us forever. Escape is impossible. The human mind too, cannot forget. At least it cannot be made to forget. Human memory is everlasting, as are the changes and additions that we make to it. Every single thought we have ever had seemingly finds a unique and permanent place in our memory. No information can be forcibly eliminated from it. Thoughts we have had may come back to us unexpectedly and clearly many years later. Trying to persuade oneself to forget is a hopeless task. For the mind deliberately to forget and start again with a clean slate is impossible. It is amusing to wonder where all the information goes. Could the ceaseless increase in information that we meet with in our lives be a cause of our expanding universe, or even our expanding girths? Alternatively, could there be perhaps another universe parallel to our own that consists purely of information? Although this is a fanciful theme it is one that we may well need to return to in the pages ahead.

Incredible ease

and speed of

change

Despite the indestructibility and permanence of information, new information is always being added to it. Not only that, but the meaning, impact, and significance, of the information we hold is continually changing. Limitless variations of basically the same information are constantly being created. In the modern world of computers, the ease and speed with which new versions of data are produced, reproduced, changed, manipulated and completely transformed, is phenomenal and frightening. There is no limit to the process. If human beings try to follow the computer too closely they could go mad. It is true that the human mind also has powerful capabilities for manipulating information but, in order to protect its sanity, our mind will sometimes put a curb on what it allows us to think. If the topics that we might like to think about are not within credible or comfortable limits our mind may refuse to consider them at all. Our thinking is blocked. We have inhibitions. It is a topic that we will look at in Chapter 8. In every person there is some data that cannot be changed. It is "unshakeable" and unalterable or, at the very least, it is slow to change. It may be data inherited in our genes. It is data we use instinctively. It is imprinted emotionally in our minds, particularly when we were young, before we had learned a language to record our experience in words. This unshakeable data is a part of our personality. It is a check on our actions. It may be good common sense and a safety valve saving us, and possibly the world, from going mad. On the other hand it may be negative and inhibiting, contributing to foolish fear and prejudice. On balance and under normal conditions we should welcome the capability of the mind to change its information quickly. It is a blessing. It gives rise to our imagination, inspiration, the solving of problems, and other marvellous mental agility. Together with the computer, our data manipulating capabilities have advanced enormously. However, unlike the safety valve in our minds, the computer has no natural safeguards and this greatly increases the possibility of information being misused. Unless changes in information are properly controlled, they can only add to the confusion, mistrust, misrepresentation, deception, fraud, and many other evils that beset the human race. Like other benefits bestowed upon us, the ease of manipulating information has a darker side. It may be a divine blessing but it may also be evil.

New worlds

for old

Unlike the real world, one of the great advantages of information is that if we don’t like the world we are in, we can change it! We can change it as easily and rapidly as we like. There is no limit to the thought and fantasy that our minds can engage in; and, if we wish, we can get the computer to help us. The world of thought is so different from the physical world. Prison bars are no barrier to the imagination. Prisoners can forget their chains. Whole worlds can come and go in a flash. Time has no meaning. Depending on our powers of concentration, the strength of our feelings, and on the intensity of our thinking, we can dispense with reality. We can believe that we are elsewhere, in another time, and in another age. People in captivity have survived intolerable conditions by this very means. However, that reserve of unshakeable data to which we have just referred is never far away from our thoughts. It helps us to hold on to our sanity, even while we dream. It may perhaps never let us escape completely from what we think is "reality." The mind is skilful in manipulating information, in postulating new worlds, and in visualising all kinds of new possibilities. It is good, as we might say, in using its imagination. The computer is also being taught to do these things and, as we will see later, it has been learning very fast.

Indefinable

substance

In later chapters we will suggest that information in the mind, by which for the most part we mean our memory, is composed of particles of matter that possibly have both physical and metaphysical properties. The substance, whatever it is, is hard to define. It may also be hard to accept that our memory, impressions, thoughts, ideas that come to us, indeed our very consciousness and even our subconsciousness and dreams, could be made up of intangible groups of particles and waveforms; operating possibly on differing wavelengths and frequencies. It is however with a strong inclination to believe this; that, in a later chapter, we will suggest a name for these particles. We will suggest that in the human body there could be literally billions and billions of memory particles or waveforms. By using ingenious scanning and imaging techniques, scientists have produced good evidence to show how memory processing is reflected in neural networks in our brains. The processing has been well documented in data mappings⁸ of the activity, particularly in the hippocampus at the centre of the nervous system. Different regions of the brain can be seen to light up and can be related to the different types of mental activity that we are engaged in. It is a veritable wonderland of conscious magic, if ever there were one! Whether this excellent work, splendid as it is, tells us all that we need to know about human memory however is debatable. What lights up could be thinking processes rather than memories themselves. What is more, to suggest (as we will in later chapters) that memory particles may move not only within the body and away from the brain, but even outside us, is something else again. We would doubt that the data mappings that scientists have found, while a very commendable achievement, bring us very near to the end of the human memory problem. All the vast complex organisation of human thought and knowledge that we call memory and consciousness, the way it is stored, accessed, and manipulated, has still to be explained.

A recourse to

Fiction

If data mappings in the brain are not material then, almost by definition, neither is our memory. Could it not be that memory and consciousness are something beyond us, something de-materialised, something ethereal, something metaphysical, at the edge of our world? Later in our book, occasionally in a light hearted mood and sometimes in a more serious one, when we feel that the confines of a 3-dimensional world are too restrictive in which to explain what we want to say, we will engage in fantasy. We will for a while even borrow from Science Fiction to talk about other dimensions, the assembly and disassembly of matter, and the possibility of de-materialising and re-materialising ourselves out in Space. Human beings are after all, as we now know, defined by information and, like all information (but not apparently Humpty Dumpty) it ought to be possible to break us down and then put us together again. Our purpose, however, is not to amuse ourselves in some cosy day dreaming. Our aim is to open up our thoughts, to ponder the wonders of multi dimensional space, to visualise a wider, bigger space, typically another dimension, in which it would be easier to survey the great variety and vast amounts of information on which the mind works. The kingdom of thought is an amazing one. It is even possible perhaps to imagine a separate universe of thought very different from the one that we are familiar with. It could be that the information used in our thoughts, i.e. our memory, is ethereal and that we create this different universe by our thinking. Some of our memory may come with us when we are born. Possibly, it may be found in neural traces, in DNA, and in particles of matter. Possibly, it can exist outside us. It may even be possible for human beings plus their memories to be disassembled and re-assembled in remoter regions of Space. But, whatever memory is, we fully expect that at times our study will call for some unusual thinking. That after all is what a human mind is expected to do.

Computers and Human beings

Strange

similarities

Until fairly recently the most powerful processor of information known to us was the human mind. With the advent of the computer and its associated technology however the human mind now has a serious rival. The human mind has been challenged. As our story unfolds we will have much to say about these two amazing processors. There are many similarities in the way that they operate. Sometimes the resemblance is superficial and misleading but it gives us cause for thought and wonder. The initial difficulties that we experienced in asking computers to do even the simplest of tasks made us appreciate the tremendous capabilities of the human mind. Even today, when computers can so often outpace us; there are many areas where the computer lags behind. One of the most interesting similarities between mind and computer is that they both operate on something we call memory. In a computer, memory is simply data, dots and crosses on a printed sheet, holes and non holes in a card or a piece of paper tape, or positive and negative charges in some magnetic media. Human memory is of course very different. It is not a series of dots and dashes or a charge on some magnetic tape. We have chosen to think of it as an elusive indefinable substance in which possibly particles of matter are accessed by and worked on in the brain. It is also possible that, through these particles, our memory has a non material i.e. a non-physical element in its make up. However, the mind’s need to create, store, recall, and work on, memory is exactly the same as that with computers. What takes place in our minds, or for that matter in the minds (if they have them) of all species, may have more in common with what takes place in a computer than we realise. The delegation of work to less immediate parts of a computer, periods of non processing, as well as hidden data and instructions, in some ways resemble our subconscious and our dreaming. In other cases, e.g. in the way that information is cross referenced in a computer, there is perhaps a clue as to how our minds do similar work. We discuss this cross referencing in Chapters 3 and 4. Another interesting similarity between computers and ourselves occurs when memory is temporarily or permanently lost. In computers we often refer to this as a hang up. In human beings we call it amnesia. We will discuss these subjects and other common ailments in Chapter 10.

Faith in

printed output

People often put faith in the print out of computer information simply because it comes from a computer, and especially when copy after copy of a print out is seen to be exactly the same many years later. This faithful reproduction can be explained by the different means that computers and people have for storing data. Computers use magnetic media and other hardware. The data for the most part is digital; that is; it is stored in discrete units of data known as bits and bytes. It is static, reliable, and seemingly unalterable. Human memory on the other hand is neural, or a part of human flesh and tissue. It is volatile and far less dependable. It is presumably electrochemical although when examined to its furthermost limits we may well find that it is more digital than we realise. However, no matter what form human memory takes (be it neural maps, synapses, patterns, dots and dashes, or whatever); and no matter what it is a memory of, (be it words, figures, symbols, pictures, sounds, smells, or anything else) human memory is far less distinct and sharp than the electronic pulses of a computer. It is fallible. Unless human beings learn something thoroughly by heart, it is rare (as clearly shown in the game of "Chinese Whispers") for us to be able to repeat exactly even the smallest sentences for very long. Inevitably, changes creep in to the messages we pass. Computer data on the other hand, if it is left untouched, may be read and re-read without change time after time. Each time that the same question is put to a computer it should inevitably give the same answer. Constancy and reproducibility are among its merits. The whole construct of memory however, whether it is in computers or human beings, needs a lot more study. We will be elaborating on the characteristics of both types of memory in later chapters.

Pandora’s

Box

It is too early to assess the full impact that computers and their associated communications will eventually have on human beings. People’s life styles and their ideas of reality and existence will change drastically in the years to come. Progress in computing and communications, aka Information Technology, has been so rapid and revolutionary, so cataclysmic and far reaching, that mentally the impact on society seems at times like the splitting of the atom. We cannot yet tell where the repercussions will end. Possibly it is the most revolutionary change that humanity has ever faced. Suddenly, Information Technology has extended our capabilities as never before. We can get an almost immediate response to any type of question. We can get information on any subject. We can explore and experiment, analyse facts and figures in great depth, and combine them in endless ways. We can transmit live pictures and scenes of what we find, and create vivid images and models of situations. Whereas previously we were limited to a display of text and statistics, we can now use computers to analyse, build on their findings, and retrace if necessary in slow time to show what they have done. We can develop talents and skills in new and exciting ways, fantasise and pretend, and communicate world-wide at the touch of a button. We can find out what is happening literally anywhere in the world. We can work at home instead of commuting to the office. We can bank, shop, pay bills, study, send e-mails instead of letters, interact in entertainment, make reservations for restaurants, the theatre and travel, and so forth, and do this all on line from within the home. We may be separated by hundreds or thousands of miles from other people and yet we can work and talk to them as though we are seated side by side. At first it may seem that we have found a new paradise, so much is on offer to us. However, as so often with progress there is a downside. New problems are created. Information brings power; and power may be misused. Those with ill intent may use information to gain dominance over others. Instead of controlling information we could become enslaved by it. Even without misuse and wrongdoing, people’s minds may be unable to cope with the overwhelming volumes of data with which we are daily being confronted. To use Information Technology is like opening Pandora’s Box. Not only is a lot of the information inside conflicting; but it creates many new, complex, and unmanageable problems. As control over the proliferation of information is relaxed, users are forced to rely on their own often inadequate self control and discipline. Instead of being masters of information, we could find all too quickly that we are at its mercy.

Duality in Information

Two basic

components

An important and fundamental property of information is its duality. This is the requirement that, in order for "data" to have meaning, it needs two complementary components. The first is a passive component that we may simply call data, and the second is an active component that acts on or interprets the data and gives it meaning. It is only when data is acted on by some "understanding mechanism that it acquires meaning and may then be called information. The mechanism" interprets; and, to do this, it uses what loosely we may refer to as language. The situation is the same wherever there is meaning. Spoken words may sound like gibberish unless there is someone there who understands them, or there is something there that can interpret them. What is being said or communicated then has meaning. Both the words of a speaker and the understanding of a listener are necessary in order for a conversation to have meaning. All data may be looked at in this way. Data is only one half of a story. It is like the story of Half a Sixpence. Both halves of the sixpence are necessary to complete the message. Or, just like Sleeping Beauty, data waits for a Prince (sometimes it is a machine, sometimes a person) to bring it to life. In the Universe there is a lot of data still to be acted on. There are many sleeping beauties (and ogres too!) that have yet to be awakened. A lot of information waits to be revealed.

Duality in

Computing

The same kind of duality that is found in information is found in computing. There used to be a saying in the early days of computing that Data retrieval was not Information Retrieval, meaning that the mere existence or collection of data did not tell us very much. The data concerned could look like a lot of worthless material of no use to anybody. In other words, the saying meant that before data could become information it had to be interpreted by some active component. Its meaning had to be distilled. Blocks of data taken from a computer file say nothing in themselves. They are just a sequence of dots and dashes, bits or electronic pulses. By themselves, computer bits or pulses have no meaning; but, when they are interpreted using certain acknowledged rules, e.g. a computer program and a language, their message is revealed. The message may contain vital earth shattering information or it may be just the details of someone’s bank account. It is only when the data is read by an appropriate computer program that the data becomes meaningful. Even when we say that data has been read by a computer, the reading strictly is only an intermediate step. The full meaning of the data may not be clear until it has been seen or heard by a person. It is true that computer data is often read and acted on by some pre-programmed or pre-engineered equipment—and this may cause things to happen without human intervention—but in the end, so far as human beings are concerned, it is only a human mind that gives data its eventual meaning and accepts it for what it is. Someone, somewhere, has to witness and to evaluate what the computer or other equipment has done. The final arbiter somewhere is a human being.

Duality in

most things

Duality which is such an important characteristic of information abounds in most things in life. We speak here not of dualism in the philosophical sense of Plato’s Mind and Matter, or of René Descartes’ Materialism and Spirit (Body and Mind); but, of duality (the relationship between two components) in all things. Most things in life appear to be related in pairs and this is often revealed in the pairing of words. One member of a pair may not be fully understandable without the other. We may take for example words like;—energy and matter; active and passive (do and be done, read and be read); positive and negative; reality and non-reality; black and white; wet and dry; man and woman; love and marriage; horse and carriage; left and right; right and wrong; in and out; inside and outside; summer and winter; night and day; east and west; north and south; nuts and bolts; pencil and paper; pen and ink; form and structure; computer programs and the data that they work on, and so on; and for good measure we might add, mind and memory. Together the latter give us consciousness about which we will have much to say in later chapters. These are all things that go together. They are not always opposites. They are often complements. There can be no wealth without an absence of wealth. There can be no good unless there is also something less than good. As the accountants proclaim, there is no debit without a credit. One term makes little sense without knowledge of the other. Separately, two parts of a thing may be incomplete but as a pair they become a meaningful whole. They become an entity which is more than the sum of its parts. Indeed the pairing of opposites like Good and Evil may exist purposely in Nature to generate activity and avoid stagnation, as we find with electricity. Opposites like the positive and negative poles of electricity give us the potential and the difference in forces that keeps us alive. Thus perhaps we have extremes of rich and poor, and even of life and death. This is perhaps the price we pay for living at all. In later chapters, we will meet these two components of information again and again; not only as conceptual pairs, but, particularly when matter is one component (the physical) and energy (including the metaphysical) is the other. We will attempt to show that when these two components are separated they can lead to curious dreams and mental illness and, perhaps in a lighter vein, to ghosts and ghouls and other strange phenomena. Even beyond this kind of duality, there is another that occurs widely in nature. In computing it is also known as redundancy. One of the main purposes of redundancy is to give us reliability, protection and security. In the human body we have two eyes, two ears, two arms, two hands, two legs, and so on. In time of trouble one of the pair may help the other and this helps us to get by. It is a way of doubling up one’s resources. We will have more to say on this aspect of duality, when