SIOC Post profile for "AI3:::Adaptive Information"
type: Document
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primary topic: The Trouble with Memes
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The Trouble with Memes
type: Post
has container: weblog
has creator: Mike Bergman
maker: Mike Bergman
created: 2012-04-04T17:50:52Z
content: Adaptive Information is a Hammer, but Genes are Not a Nail Since Richard Dawkins first put forward the idea of the "meme" in his book The Selfish Gene some 35 years ago [1], the premise has struck in my craw. I, like Dawkins, was trained as an evolutionary biologist. I understand the idea of the gene and its essential role as a vehicle for organic evolution. And, all of us clearly understand that "ideas" themselves have a certain competitive and adaptive nature. Some go viral; some run like wildfire and take prominence; and some go nowhere or fall on deaf ears. Culture and human communications and ideas play complementary -- perhaps even dominant -- roles in comparison to the biological information contained within DNA (genes). I think there are two bases for why the "meme" idea sticks in my craw. The first harkens back to Dawkins. In formulating the concept of the "meme", Dawkins falls into the trap of many professionals, what the French call déformation professionnelle. This is the idea of professionals framing problems from the confines of their own points of view. This is also known as the Law of the Instrument, or (Abraham) Maslow's hammer, or what all of us know colloquially as "if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail" [2]. Human or cultural information is not genetics. The second -- and more fundamental -- basis for why this idea sticks in my craw is its mis-characterization of what is adaptive information, the title and theme of this blog. Sure, adaptive information can be found in the types of information structures at the basis of organic life and organic evolution. But, adaptive information is much, much more. Adaptive information is any structure that provides arrangements of energy and matter that maximizes entropy production. In inanimate terms, such structures include chemical chirality and proteins. It includes the bases for organic life, inheritance and organic evolution. For some life forms, it might include communications such as…
encoded: Adaptive Information is a Hammer, but Genes are Not a Nail Since Richard Dawkins first put forward the idea of the “meme” in his book The Selfish Gene some 35 years ago [1], the premise has struck in my craw. I, like Dawkins, was trained as an evolutionary biologist. I understand the idea of the gene and its essential role as a vehicle for organic evolution. And, all of us clearly understand that “ideas” themselves have a certain competitive and adaptive nature. Some go viral; some run like wildfire and take prominence; and some go nowhere or fall on deaf ears. Culture and human communications and ideas play complementary — perhaps even dominant — roles in comparison to the biological information contained within DNA (genes). I think there are two bases for why the “meme” idea sticks in my craw. The first harkens back to Dawkins. In formulating the concept of the “meme”, Dawkins falls into the trap of many professionals, what the French call déformation professionnelle. This is the idea of professionals framing problems from the confines of their own points of view. This is also known as the Law of the Instrument, or (Abraham) Maslow‘s hammer, or what all of us know colloquially as “if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail“ [2]. Human or cultural information is not genetics. The second — and more fundamental — basis for why this idea sticks in my craw is its mis-characterization of what is adaptive information, the title and theme of this blog. Sure, adaptive information can be found in the types of information structures at the basis of organic life and organic evolution. But, adaptive information is much, much more. Adaptive information is any structure that provides arrangements of energy and matter that maximizes entropy production. In inanimate terms, such structures include chemical chirality and proteins. It includes the bases for organic life, inheritance and organic evolution. For some life forms, it might include communications such as phe…
topic: Adaptive Information
topic: Peircean Principles
topic: Semantic Web
topic: Structured Web
has reply: comment-506523
has reply: comment-506899
has reply: comment-507118
has reply: comment-507385
links to: Richard Dawkins
links to: meme
links to: [1]
links to: déformation professionnelle
links to: Law of the Instrument
links to: Abraham) Maslow
links to: if all you have is a hammer, everything looks like a nail
links to: [2]
links to: memetics
links to: [3]
links to: [4]
links to: [5]
links to: Terrence Deacon
links to: [6]
links to: kin selection
links to: [7]
links to: [8]
links to: Claude Shannon
links to: [9]
links to: [10]
links to: Boltzmann
links to: Gibbs
links to: Gibb's entropy
links to: Jaynes
links to: statistical mechanics
links to: [11]
links to: [12]
links to: 2nd law of thermodynamics
links to: Entropy
links to: arrow of time
links to: negentropy
links to: [13]
links to: [14]
links to: [15]
links to: [16]
links to: maximum entropy production principle
links to: [17]
links to: [18]
links to: [19]
links to: [20]
links to: 33905206.pdf
links to: give-me-a-sign-what-do-things-mean-on-the-semantic-web
links to: 10-3edit.html
links to: W. D. Hamilton
links to: Robert Trivers
links to: Blogasbörd
links to: shannon1948.pdf
links to: Relationship to thermodynamic entropy
links to: information.is.not.uncertainty.html
links to: 2005051204.pdf
links to: natprocess.pdf
links to: many others
links to: whylife.pdf
links to: maximum entropy production
links to: here
links to: listing of notable book burnings
links to: natinfo.pdf
links to: the-biggest-disruption-in-history-massively-accelerated-growth-since-the-industrial-revolution

Mike Bergman
type: User

Mike Bergman
type: Person

maximum entropy production principle
label: Wikipedia