Abstract: The emphasis of this paper is on the analysis and characterization of information as a natural and social operator, especially in areas of current interest of information science and in the individual cognitive and group domains. We first present an extensive classification of operators according to various criteria including function and target. Support for our approach comes from a recently proposed extension of logic to real phenomena, Logic in Reality (LIR). By focusing on the nature and properties of operators in social environment, such as organizations and networks, we acquire a possibility to achieve a more rigorous logical discussion of evolutionary processes in the knowledge-centered Information Society, demonstrate abundance of natural operators, explain how information operates in nature, and analyze the intentionality of information in human operators. Explicit references to operators have not generally been made in currently discussed theories of information, except to the extent that ascription of effective causal properties to information implies the existence of agents and hence of operators. We examine three representative theories of semantic, semiotic and pragmatic information from this perspective. The concept of information-as-operators is proposed in this paper as a contribution to the discussion of the general properties of information. It is not intended as a complete General Theory of Information, but it is compatible with theories that emphasize the ontological, causal powers of information processes.

Keywords: information, logic, operator, natural, society, semantics, energy, process

Link:

INFORMATION AS A NATURAL AND SOCIAL OPERATOR

Joseph E. Brenner and Mark Burgin

http://www.foibg.com/ijita/vol18/ijita18-1-p03.pdf