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@gordonbrander @jamescham Everyone should read "Selling Wine Without Bottles" at least once a year. Nowadays, I reach for it at least once a month. eff.org/pages/selling-…
Go down to the section "A Taxonomy of Information". I'll tease you with excerpts...
Go down to the section "A Taxonomy of Information". I'll tease you with excerpts...
@gordonbrander @jamescham "information is, by its nature, intangible and hard to define. Like other such deep phenomena as light or matter, it is a natural host to paradox...
understanding of information may emerge in the abstract congruence of its several different properties:"
understanding of information may emerge in the abstract congruence of its several different properties:"
@gordonbrander @jamescham * Information is an activity.
* Information is a life form.
* Information is a relationship.
* Information is a life form.
* Information is a relationship.
@gordonbrander @jamescham I. Information Is a Verb, Not a Noun.
Freed of its containers, information is obviously not a thing. In fact, it is something which happens in the field of interaction between minds or objects or other pieces of information.
Freed of its containers, information is obviously not a thing. In fact, it is something which happens in the field of interaction between minds or objects or other pieces of information.
@gordonbrander @jamescham Gregory Bateson, expanding on the information theory of Claude Shannon, said, "Information is a difference which makes a difference." Thus, information only really exists in the [delta]. The making of that difference is an activity within a relationship.
@gordonbrander @jamescham Information is an action which occupies time rather than a state of being which occupies physical space, as is the case with hard goods. It is the pitch, not the baseball, the dance, not the dancer.
@gordonbrander @jamescham Information Is Experienced, Not Possessed
Even when it has been encapsulated in some static form like a book or a hard disk, information is still something which happens to you as you mentally decompress it from its storage code.
Even when it has been encapsulated in some static form like a book or a hard disk, information is still something which happens to you as you mentally decompress it from its storage code.
@gordonbrander @jamescham Information Has To Move
Sharks are said to die of suffocation if they stop swimming, and the same is nearly true of information. Information which isn't moving ceases to exist as anything but potential...at least until it is allowed to move again.
Sharks are said to die of suffocation if they stop swimming, and the same is nearly true of information. Information which isn't moving ceases to exist as anything but potential...at least until it is allowed to move again.
@gordonbrander @jamescham Anyways, just go read the whole fucking thing. It's amazing and prescient. It's the catechism we all need to be constantly reminding ourselves of.
