Information door · 9 min read · published
Information Is Not Meaning
A signal can reduce uncertainty without saying anything. Meaning enters when physical distinctions take a role in a living, social, or interpretive practice.
Thesis
Information theory measures distinguishable possibilities and correlations; meaning concerns what a distinction signifies or does for a system. The two can cooperate in language, biology, and machines without becoming the same concept.
The word has two lives
Supporting/contextual references: [meaning-shannon-1948]
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A pattern needs a role
Supporting/contextual references: [meaning-morris-1938] [meaning-millikan-1984]
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Correlation is not reference
Supporting/contextual references: [meaning-dretske-1981] [meaning-morris-1938]
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Brains, bodies, and environments
Supporting/contextual references: [meaning-millikan-1984] [meaning-clark-2016]
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Machines and the temptation to overclaim
Supporting/contextual references: [meaning-dennett-1987] [meaning-dretske-1981]
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Why quantum information does not close the gap
Supporting/contextual references: [meaning-wheeler-zurek-1983] [meaning-shannon-1948]
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Open research directions
Supporting/contextual references: [meaning-millikan-1984] [meaning-clark-2016] [meaning-dennett-1987]
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A distinction worth protecting
Supporting/contextual references: [meaning-shannon-1948] [meaning-dretske-1981] [meaning-millikan-1984]
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The practical boundary
Supporting/contextual references: [meaning-morris-1938] [meaning-dennett-1987] [meaning-clark-2016]
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Sources & references
Supporting/contextual references, not claim-level proof.
- Claude E. Shannon — A Mathematical Theory of CommunicationBell System Technical Journal 27(3), 379–423; 27(4), 623–656, 1948.
- Charles W. Morris — Foundations of the Theory of SignsUniversity of Chicago Press, 1938.
- Fred Dretske — Knowledge and the Flow of InformationMIT Press, 1981.
- Ruth Garrett Millikan — Language, Thought, and Other Biological CategoriesMIT Press, 1984.
- Daniel C. Dennett — The Intentional StanceMIT Press, 1987.
- John Archibald Wheeler and Wojciech H. Zurek (eds.) — Quantum Theory and MeasurementPrinceton University Press, 1983.
- Andy Clark — Surfing UncertaintyOxford University Press, 2016.