An unfinished attempt at a full, formal essay:
A Classification of
Information
The
concept of information is fairly elusive. Even now, especially now,
in the Age of Information, the concept of “information” has
become widespread and is still gaining importance in society.
In
the terms of Computer Science, it is very common to distinguish the
concept of “data” from that of “information”. “Data” is
concrete, it is a signal, a conveyed message through some medium
which may or may not ever be converted into information. Information,
however, is necessarily linked to an entity. “Information” is
meaning, something necessarily linked to an entity, something which
this entity can understand and use for its own purposes.
Information
can be classified, however, according to several parameters
determined by the type of meaning it holds, and its significance
relative to the entity who possesses it.
Identity
Certain information
allows an entity to possess a concept of itself. An entity needs
Identity Information in order to attain any level of
self-consciousness. The identity information that an entity may
possess includes the concept of “what” it is, what are its
reasons and purposes of existence, and possibly a self-identifying
tag, such as a name or nickname, not necessarily the same one it uses
for outside communication.
This category does not
include information of any useful meaning to other entities. Identity
information is, arguably, the proof and the test for an entity’s
self-consciousness. Additionally, the information included in this
category rarely ever changes, since it incorporates the entity’s
very own definition.
State
An entity usually
possesses characteristics or attributes whose values (or states) are
subject to change. The information in the “State” category joins
those concepts related to the entity’s own physical, mental, and
emotional state. Examples of these concepts include the entity’s
size, volume, weight, current temperature, position/location,
feelings, thoughts, internal processes, immediate goals, and current
information possessed. Notice that the fact that an entity possesses
certain characteristics and that they change through time does not
necessarily imply that the entity actually “knows” about its own
state. This is only attained when the entity is actually aware of its
own state and of the changes that it suffers.
Notice also that this
type of information may imply some kind of recursive self-thought.
The information that an entity may possess or create about its own
internal processes of information creates recursive thought usually
present in advanced self-aware beings.
Circunstantial
If an entity is to
interact with its environment, it must possess some kind of
information about it, either by possessing it initially or by
acquiring it through time. For example, as an entity, I may possess
information about other entites around myself, like their identity,
their relative position, their own state, goals, possible
interactions with them, and the means and obstacles that they may
represent to my own set of goals. It also includes concepts like the
state of the surrounding environment (temperature, humidity,
resources), and its relationship and effects on my own state.
Just as information
classified in “State” spans the concepts relating to the entity’s
own proper characteristics and state, “Circunstantial”
information combines all the information relating to the
environment’s current characteristics and state. For an interactive
entity, the information in this category is usually subject to the
most changes, and is therefore the set of information which the
entity processes, relates to, and utilizes the most. Notice also that
circunstantial information is very subject to change, which implies
that the entity must be able to acquire, or perceive, its environment
in order to maintain a useful set of circunstantial information.
Universal
Universal Information
includes information about the entity’s exterior which will rarely,
if ever, need to be changed. Information in this category includes
concepts such as physical laws (laws of motion, thermodynamics,
gravity), common interaction protocols with distinct kinds of
entities, scientific knowledge, historical facts, geographical
figures, categorization of other entities, and anything which may be
generalized through proper experience.
Universal Information
allows an entity to perform decisions. If an entity has a set of
defined goals, it must be able to make informed decisions that will
lead to their fulfillment. To do this, an entity must know certain
pervasive “facts” about its exterior, including the effects of
its own actions on itself and on its environment. This “predictive”
characteristic of Universal Information is what allows an entity to
be truly interactive.
It is worth mentioning
that the boundary between circunstantial and universal information is
sometimes vague. It it usually up to the entity itself to decide
which of its information about its exterior should be considered
temporary (Circunstantial), and which should be considered relatively
permanent (Universal). Certain entities may consider ranging the
information about their exterior in a continuous block between the
ephimerous and the unchanging.
Historical
Information about an
entity’s past states and actions may be kept in an entity’s
memory. This information is normally used as a predictive or
statistical resource to decide on future actions. It may also, on
some cases, serve no purpose to the entity itself, and be stored only
for the use of other entities to acquire. In this case, these
concepts are said to lose their status of “Information” and
become mere “data”, because the entity’s state or actions are
no longer altered by them. Historical Information is usually referred
to as “past memories”, or simply as “journals” or “logs”.
