In the Beginning was Information

Theorem 7: The allocation of meanings to the set of availablesymbols is a mental process depending on convention 13 .Theorem 8: If a code has been defined by a deliberate convention,it must be strictly adhered to afterwards.Theorem 9: If the information is to be understood, the particularcode must be known to both the sender and the recipient.Theorem 10: According to Theorem 6 only structures which arebased on a code, can represent information. This is a necessarybut not sufficient condition for the establishment of information.12 The German system of postal codes: Theorems 6 to 11 can be illustrated inthe case of the well-known postal code system. A five-figure numerical systemwas introduced in Germany in July 1993. The country was divided into 26,400delivery zones. Large mail users who received more than 2,000 postal articlesper day, were given their own numbers, and 16,500 postal codes were allocatedto post box clients. The first digit identifies the region (e. g. 1 for the Berlinarea, 2 Hamburg, and 8 München) and the second digit usually indicates amajor city. Digits 3 to 5 then identify the local postal zone. A team of experts,being the sender, allocated the available numbers (Theorem 7). According toTheorem 9 these codes must be known to both the sender and the recipient, andto achieve this, the most massive printing effort in history produced 40 millionpostal code directories, each having 1,000 pages and weighing 2 kg. Thesewere then made available to all households. The coding system was establishedafter comprehensive consultation (it had to be well designed, and it was a mentalprocess as required by Theorem 11).13 Mental process, intelligent inventor: It should be emphasised that matter as suchis unable to generate any code. All experiences indicate that a thinking being voluntarilyexercising his own free will, cognition, and creativity, is required.Helmut Gipper, a German linguist, defined thought as follows [G3, p 261]:“The mental activity of a living being can be regarded as thought when he succeedsin saving and in a practical way employing empirical data obtainedthrough his senses, as made possible by his biological capabilities and thestructure of his brain. He should also be able to freely organise the data in theform of if-then relationships, derive simple conclusions, and find solutions toproblems. Thought should thus not be confused with the instinctive abilities ofanimals which have no freedom to make decisions. Freedom of choice is presupposed.Neither the weaving of their webs by spiders, nor the construction ofhoneycombs by bees or their so-called ‘gyration language’, has anything to dowith cognition, however complex, meaningful and marvellous these abilitiesmay be. These instinctive acts are fixed, allowing no or only minor variation inthe framework provided.”65