Hierarchy and the Nature of Information

We address the nature of information from a systemic structural point of view. Starting from the Natural hierarchy of living systems, we elucidate its decomposition into two partial hierarchies associated with its extant levels and inter-level regions, respectively. External observation of a hierarc...

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Bibliographic Details
Main Authors: Ron Cottam, Willy Ranson, Roger Vounckx
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: MDPI AG 2016-01-01
Series:Information
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.mdpi.com/2078-2489/7/1/1
Description
Summary:We address the nature of information from a systemic structural point of view. Starting from the Natural hierarchy of living systems, we elucidate its decomposition into two partial hierarchies associated with its extant levels and inter-level regions, respectively. External observation of a hierarchical system involves the generation of approximate hyperscalar representations of these two partials, which then reintegrate to give a singular metascalar result. We relate Havel’s categories of reality and Peirce’s categories of experience to this result, and indicate that the ultimate result of the reintegration of hyperscalar data and context is a sign which is information.
ISSN:2078-2489