In the Beginning was Information

mation as discussed above, are found here, as will now be illustrated bybee dancing:Bee dances: Bee dances, although simple, afford an illustrative exampleof the five aspects of information on the biological plane. The well knownAustrian zoologist Karl von Frisch (1886-1982) [F7] investigated anddescribed this phenomenon to some depth. The general situation betweensender and recipient is illustrated in Figure 39, as well as the syntactic,semantic, pragmatic, and apobetic levels. The transmitting bee, which hasdiscovered a new and plentiful source of food on its latest flight, nowpasses this essential information (intentional communication) on to theother bees in the hive (the recipients). The employed signals are bodymovements. Although only a few bees are involved simultaneously, thecode convention did not originate with the sender bee, nor with the recipients.This is a typical example of the situation depicted in Figure 24.The syntax of the message is defined by various characteristics of thedance: namely the sequence of the motions, and the number of gyrationsper time unit, as well as the direction of the straight line part of the movement.The attendant bees understand the meaning (semantics) of thespecifically encoded information:Distance of the food source: If the distance is say 100 m, the gyrations followone another rapidly and the motions are fast. For greater distances themovements become less rapid, but the straight-line part is emphasised andprotracted. There is a nearly mathematical relationship between the distanceof the food source in kilometres and the number of gyrations per minute.The direction of the food source: The direction of the straight part communicatesthe position of the food source in two ways, depending on whetherthe dancing is performed on a vertical wall of the hive, or on a horizontalplane such as the apron at the entrance. The sun is used as a compass.The kind of flower: Nectar gathering bees communicate the kind of blossomby means of the odour clinging to the bee’s body and to the honeycontainer. Another indispensable source of nourishment is pollen. Whenpollen is gathered, no nectar having an identifiable odour is carried, butsome part of the blossom is brought back.The gestural language of wolves: A wolf is able to communicate fine shadesof meaning by means of its eyes, lips, and tail. It can express eleven emotionalstates, including confidence, threat, uncertainty, depression, a defensiveattitude, and subjugation, by different tail positions [F8]. This seems to be acomplex system by means of which thousands of states could be encoded, butit lacks the decisive elements of a language, namely the ability to creativelycombine single language elements to construct a sentence.216