Marcin Schroeder

Is it possible to answer the question about the role of the study of information while the general concept of information is a subject of continuing discussion on its definition, its epistemic and ontological status? In spite of the differences in its understanding, the concept of information gives a common platform for the study of life in a plurality of contexts related to most critical issues of the global scale, such as global warming. This holistic perspective allows identification of the sources of problems and of the threats inherent in currently proposed solutions.

Is it possible to answer the question about the role of the study of information while the general concept of information is a subject of continuing discussion on its definition, its epistemic and ontological status? In spite of the differences in its understanding, the concept of information gives a common platform for the study of life in a plurality of contexts related to most critical issues of the global scale, such as global warming. This holistic perspective allows identification of the sources of problems and of the threats inherent in currently proposed solutions.

The concept of symmetry has become the main tool for structural analysis in mathematics and science. There were many attempts to provide a quantitative methodology for research on infor- mation (e.g., Shannon’s entropy) but the structural aspects of information were always investigated within the limits of specific applications without any common structural methodology. This paper has as its main objective the development of a uniform formalism incorporating the general concepts of information and symmetry allowing the study of structural characteristics of the encoding of in- formation. It starts from the justification for the description of the encoding of information as a filter in information logic formalized as the lattice of closed subsets in a closure space. Then, symmetry of the encoding of information is associated with the invariance of the filter representing this encoding with respect to a group of automorphisms of the logic of information.

The search for the concept of a structure independent from the particular context of its application has a long history going back to the attempt made by Bourbaki more than a half century ago, but there is still no answer to the general question "What is a structure?" It is no wonder that the parallel question about the defrnition of cryptomorphism (understood as much more general concept than Birkhoffs cryptoisomorphism) has not been answered. The answer to one question can open a way to the other, as the group of cryptomorphisms should produce the corresponding structure as its invariant. The present paper considers tools for the inquiry in both directions of a structure and of a cryptomorphism

Contemporary scientific approaches to Biology are the result of some cultural ideas considered as universal by Western reductionist traditions. The study of the cultural, symbolic and historical approaches to reality and Life provides us important lessons about the necessity of integrating Eastern holistic views into the study of Life. This is both an epistemological and ontological enhancement which provides more powerful and insightful ways to deal with Life and its understanding.

To naturalize information, i.e. to make the concept of information a subject of the study of reality independent from subjective judgment requires methodology of its study consistent with that of natural sciences. Section 2 of this paper presents historical argumentation for the fundamental role of the study of symmetries in natural sciences and in the consequence of the claim that naturalization of information requires a methodology of the study of its symmetries. Section 3 includes mathematical preliminaries necessary for the study of symmetries in an arbitrary closure space carried out in Section 4. Section 5 demonstrates the connection of the concept of information and closure spaces. This sets foundations for further studies of symmetries of information.

Despite the continuous emphasis on globalization, we witness increasing divisions and divisiveness in all domains of human activities. One of the reasons, if not the main one, is the intellectual fragmentation of humanity, compared in the title to the failed attempt at building the Biblical Tower of Babel. The attempts to reintegrate worldview, fragmented by the specialization of education (C.P. Snow’s The Two Cultures) and expected to be achieved through reforms in curricula at all levels of education, were based on the assumption that the design of a curriculum should focus on the wide distribution of subjects of study, as if the distribution was the goal. The key point is not the distribution of themes, but the development of skills in the integration of knowledge. The quantitative assessment of the width of knowledge by the number of disciplines is of secondary importance. We cannot expect the miracle that students without any intellectual tools developed for this purpose would ...

Phenomenology was born with the mission to give foundations for science of experience and to open consciousness to scientific study. The influence of phenomenology initiated in the works of Husserl and continued in a wide range of works of others was immense, but mainly within the confines of philosophy and the humanities. The actual attempts to develop a scientific discipline of the study of consciousness and to carry out research on cognition and consciousness were always based on the methods of traditional science in which elimination of the subjective has been always a primary tenet. Thus, focus was mainly on neurological correlates of conscious phenomena. The present paper is an attempt to initiate an extension and revision of phenomenological methodology with the use of philosophical and scientific experience and knowledge accumulated in a century of inquiry and research in relevant disciplines. The question which disciplines are relevant is crucial and our answer is innovative. The range of disciplines involved here is from information science and studies of computation, up to cultural psychology and the studies of philosophical traditions of the East. Concepts related to information and computation studies provide a general conceptual framework free from the limitations of particular languages and of linguistic analysis. This conceptual framework is extending the original perspective of phenomenology to issues of modern technology and science. Cultural psychology gives us tools to root out what in phenomenology was considered universal for humanity, but was a result of European ethnocentrism. Most important here is the contrast between individualistic and collectivistic cultural determinants of consciousness. Finally, philosophical tradition of the East gives alternatives in seeking solutions for fundamental problems. This general outline of the research methodology is illustrated by an example of its use when phenomenology is studied within the conceptual framework of information.

Abstract. Information can be defined in terms of categorical opposition of one and many, leading to two manifestations of information, selective and structural. These manifestations of information are dual in the sense that one always is associated with the other. The dualism can be used to model and explain dynamics of information processes. Such dynamical processes are analyzed in contexts of two domains, computation and foundations of living systems. In conclusion, it is proposed that the similar dynamics of information processes allows considering computational systems of increased hierarchical complexity resembling living systems. 1

of Paper to be published in the Proceedings of Complexity, Cybernetics, and Informing Science and Engineering PORTUGALan IIIS Conference collocated with InSITE After the conference is over, the International Institute of Informatics and Systemics (IIIS, www.iiis.org The Complexity of Complexity: Structural vs. Quantitative Approach Marcin J. Schroeder Akita International University, Akita, Japan

Abstract: The paper considers necessary conditions for establishing information science as a scientific autonomous disci-pline. The lack of a commonly accepted definition of information is not as threatening as it may seem, as each study within the discipline may choose an own definition, as well as an own philosophical framework, when there are some alternatives to choose between. More important is the development of a common methodology of inquiry and some range of standard questions regarding the concept of information. Also, it is important to develop some standards of inquiry, which would make information scientific studies accessible to philosophical analysis and reflection. In turn, contributions of information science to the resolution of problems identified within philosophy will give the best measure of maturity for information sci-ence as a discipline.

Information can be defined in terms of categorical opposition of one and many, leading to two manifestations of information, selective and structural. These manifestations of information are dual in the sense that one always is associated with the other. The dualism can be used to model and explain dynamics of information processes. Such dynamical processes are analyzed in contexts of two domains, computation and foundations of living systems. In conclusion, it is proposed that the similar dynamics of information processes allows considering computational systems of increased hierarchical complexity resembling living systems.

specific closure operator f on the power set \wp . Now, in the earlier paper a theory of symmetries for configurations of closed subsets of an arbitrary closure space is developed. In this paper we apply this generalization of symmetry to the particular case of the closure space defined on the power set \wp of the set \mathrm{S} by the closure operator which extends any family of subsets to the least Moore family, i.e. our closure operator f on \wp . The closure space defined by this closure operator on the power set of \mathrm{S}

Going beyond Turing machines in the theory of computation requires some sufficiently general conceptual framework opening a wide perspective on the possible generalizations. Dynamics of information can be such a framework when information is understood as identification ofa variety, and with the formalism for information in terms ofclosure spaces. In this context, there is an analogy between Turing machine computing and familiar straightedge and compass constructions, where the cells of the tape are replaced by the points of the plane and drawing ofpoints and lines is replacing the change from $0$ to 1. Moreover, it is possible to consider a wide range of dynamic geometric information processes (such as constructions of conics) as a form of computation. Finally, the property of character $n$ for closure spaces provides a classification of the geometric information systems, and therefore of the types of computation, into a hierarchy indexed by natural numbers. This hierarchy has Turi...

This paper has as its main objective a critica review of typical classifications based on the disciplines of application $(e.g.$ topology, algebra, geomerrv) and their particular needs. Special attention is given to the example of geometric closure spaces and to the question what property $0/\cdot$ properties should be used to distinguish $t/lis$ category. $Jn$ this context, new class of closure spaces of character $n$ is introduced. Arguments are provided that geometric closure spaces should be distinguished as closure spaces of character 2. Also, some characteristics of closure spaces of character are given. Finally, the exchange $prope/ty$ of closure spaces which is usually considered as defining for geometric closure spaces is associated with the issue of $diS \backslash \int oint$ union decomposability of closure spaces. Some suggestions are made regarding more meaningful, $comprehensl\iota’ e$ classification of closure $\downarrow$spaces.

This is an attempt to develop a systematic formal theory of information based on philosophical foundations adequate for the broad context of pre-systematic concept of information. The existing formalisms, in particular that commonly called information theory, consider only some aspects of information, such as its measure. In spite of spectacular successes of Shannon's entropy and its generalizations, the quantitative description did not help in the development of the formal description of the concept of information itself. In this paper, the brief review of the contexts in which the term information is being used is followed by similarly brief presentation of philosophical foundations incorporating such aspects of information as its selective and structural manifestations, information integration and semantics of information presented in more extensive form in other publications of the author. Finally, based on these foundations, a mathematical formalism is proposed with an expl...

In the study of the brain mechanisms responsible for consciousness, the most mysterious, and probably the most important for mathematical modeling is the phenomenal unity of conscious awareness. The author has proposed in his earlier work an approach to explain this unity in terms of integration of information, where information is understood as identification of a variety, and Its integration as transformation of the selective manifestation of information into structural one. Also in the earlier study, the general mathematical model of integration has been exemplified using the process of color discrimination, and a hypothetical interpretation of the unity of consciousness has been presented in terms of the irreducibility of the algebraic structures involved in modeling of integration. The present paper is devoted to the issue of the relationship between partially ordered sets and transitive closure operators which seem the core concepts of the model. The main question is about the...

The most fundamental question in the philosophy of information "What is information?" has not received yet a definite answer free from commonly recognized deficiencies. In my earlier work I have proposed a definition of information as an identification of the variety. The definition is based on the concept of the one-many relation, a philosophical theme as old as philosophy itself. The rich tradition of the theme established through the centuries of philosophical discourse is in a clear contrast to the common sense concepts such as "uncertainty" usually utilized in attempts to set foundations for the concept of information. An identification of the variety can have two basic forms of a selection of one out many in the variety, or of the structure uniting the variety (many) into one. The distinction of the forms of identification leads to the distinction between the selective and structural information. However, since every occurrence of one type of information is...

Contemporary Natural Philosophy is understood here as a project of the pursuit of the integrated description of reality distinguished by the precisely formulated criteria of objectivity, and by the assumption that the statements of this description can be assessed only as true or false according to clearly specified verification procedures established with the exclusive goal of the discrimination between these two logical values, but not with respect to any other norms or values established by the preferences of human collectives or by the individual choices. This distinction assumes only logical consistency, but not completeness. Completeness (i.e., the feasibility to assign true or false value to all possible statements) is desirable, but may be impossible. This paper is not intended as a comprehensive program for the development of the Contemporary Natural Philosophy but rather as a preparation for such program advocating some necessary revisions and extensions of the methodology...

The meaning of information can be understood as a relationship between information systems. This study presents a brief outline of theoretical tools for the analysis of this relationship. Considering the informational character of reality, it is natural to extend the relationships between signs to include the concept of meaning as another instance of a relation between the informational entities of a sign and its denotation. However, this approach to the semantics of information does not require any specific ontological commitment, as the intention is always directed towards the object presented to us as a structural manifestation of information. Whether there is something that differs from this informational structure and is beyond our capacity to comprehend directly, or whether there are objects that are the result of our own active engagement in their formation, is a matter of ontological position, with respect to which our approach is neutral. The experience of logic tells us ab...

Whichever definition of autonomy is used, it is usually formulated in a negative way by the absence, rather than presence, of the defining factors. Some definitions refer to the absence of external causes, physical determination, coercion or control. If positive factors are used, autonomy is associated with the shift from effective causes to final ones. Both approaches, the former of which is based on the elimination of determinism to secure free choice, and the latter of which is based on the replacement of determination by the past by determination by the future, are inconsistent with the scientific description of reality. This paper is an attempt to provide the positive, constructive characterization of autonomy consistent with the scientific view of reality, which can guide us in our search for its implementation in artefacts.

The leading theme of the 2019 Summit of International Society for the Study of Information held 2–6 June 2019 at The University of California at Berkeley was the question “Where is the I in AI and the meaning of Information?” The question addresses one of the central issues not only for scientific research and philosophical reflection, but also for technological, economic, and social practice. The Conference “Morphological, Natural, Analog, and Other Unconventional Forms of Computing for Cognition and Intelligence” (MORCOM 2019) was focused on this theme from the perspective of unconventional forms of computing. The present paper, written by the organizers of the conference, reports the objectives of MORCOM 2019 and provides an overview of the contributions.