Mathematical information theory and cybernetics

The reason for the limited activity on this diary at the moment is that I am working (hard) on my dissertation. I will however try to use this as a notebook of ideas, as I’m seeing myself drowning i references, books, articles that I’m reading and I’m spending more an more time trying to find what I read, where I read it and, where that book is now…

There’s an interesting relationship between the mathematical theory of communication; cybernetics; and semiology and my field of inquiry, the question to me being wether the nature of the message is of relevance to the output or the stimuli caused by this message. An example would be: Can a binary signal cause a relevant change–relevant as measured from the outputting system itself–in a continous or analog system. Gregory Bateson Bateson, 1972 would argue that since there is no such thing as a ‘territory’ without a ‘map’, or rather that every perception of the territory is a map, than the signal transmitted will already be a transformation, a map in itself, causing change in another map. This would argue that it is up to the “mapping” of the data rather than the transmission of it. From the point of view of the information theorist the main issue is whether the signal-nois ratio is acceptible.

Obviously the problem is infinitely more complex than how it is stated above, especiallly when the semiologist is allowed to enter the discussion.