Leydesdorff, Loet and Ivanova, Inga and Petersen, Alexander M. The self-organization of meaning and the reflexive communication of information. Working Paper ArXiv (Submitted)
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Abstract
Following a suggestion of Warren Weaver, we extend the Shannon model of communication piecemeal into a complex systems model in which communication is differentiated both vertically and horizontally. This model enables us to bridge the divide between Niklas Luhmann’s theory of the self-organization of meaning in communications and empirical research using information theory. First, we distinguish between communication relations and correlations between patterns of relations. The correlations span a vector space in which relations are positioned and thus provided with meaning. Second, positions provide reflexive perspectives. Whereas the different meanings are integrated locally, each instantiation opens horizons of meaning that can be codified along eigenvectors of the communication matrix. The next-order specification of codified meaning can generate redundancies (as feedback on the forward arrow of entropy production). The horizontal differentiation among the codes of communication enables us to quantify the creation of new options as mutual redundancy. Increases in redundancy can then be measured as local reduction of prevailing uncertainty (in bits). The generation of options can also be considered as a hallmark of the knowledge-based economy: new knowledge provides new options. Both the communication-theoretical and the operational (information-theoretical) perspectives.
| Item Type: | Working Paper (Working Paper) |
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| Uncontrolled Keywords: | Information theory |
| Subjects: | H Social Sciences > H Social Sciences (General) H Social Sciences > HA Statistics Q Science > QA Mathematics |
| Research Area: | Economics and Institutional Change |
| Depositing User: | Alexander Petersen |
| Date Deposited: | 08 Oct 2015 07:52 |
| Last Modified: | 06 Apr 2016 08:05 |
| URI: | http://eprints.imtlucca.it/id/eprint/2759 |
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