Wisdom, Information & Knowledge
It took over a hundred years (from 1839 to 1948) for the
telegraph of Samuel Morse to be analyzed with the Information
Theory of Claude Shannon. Shannon's techniques allowed engineers
to know when they had reached the capacity of a channel and then
add another. Many of the theorems which have been developed are
stated in terms of limits and bounds. This theory theory tells us
thi is the limit, don't waste valuable resources trying to do
more. We don't like to acknowlege limits but it is good to where
they are.
Fifty years later we are maybe halfway to coming up with a
Theory of Knowledge. Most scientists don't even talk about the
Theory of Wistom in mixed company, it's not even respectable. Yet
how can we design and implement the systems we need without this
tool. Our trial and error methods of the past won't do. We need a
kid to fugure this out for us. We seem to be making it to
complicated. Shannon finally solved the information riddle by
using a alphabet with only two characters of equal probability.
How simple can you get?
Theory of Human Information
- Sensory Input as a Basis of Meaning
- Perception Simulation
- Ideas,
- Innovation,
- Invention,
- Language, extensible and open ended
- Stories and In-Brain representation
- Concepts - Conceptionary (an index of concepts ie. like a
dictionary is for diction)
- Experience - How is it capsulized?
- Recognition - Human Faces
Theory of Human Knowledge
- How to use Shannon's technique of a very simple base
example, extended by limits to the complex?
- Constrained Fields of Knowledge Packaged into Consumer
Products Cooking and Nutrition Family Health and Medicine
Pet Care and Medicine Geneology Personal and Family
Financial Management
- Threshold - How much Knowledge is required to begin, to
gain entry?
- How many examples of a Horse must one see to understand
the Range of Horse Configurations.
- How to understand the limits, beyond which are non-horse
things. Zebras, Deer etc.
- There seems to be an inherent, or implicit, condition of
completeness when we consider Knowledge.
- When one is knowledgable, one can make negative
statements. There are NO horses living in Antartica.
Theory of Human Wisdom
- Experience, capsulized into Myth and Fable.
- At the minimum Receipe's and Instruction's
- Problem Solving for changed conditions
- Early Example:
- This is a Big Animal
- This is a Spear
- Stick Spear in Big Animal
- Eat Big Animal
- Problem:
- No Spears
- Innovation:
- Run Big Animal off Cliff
- Wisdom Always Involves Decision Making
- Group Decisions become very complex
- Adaptive Behavior
- Lying and Chearing
- Expected Gain/Loss
- Altruism
- Cliques and Peers
- Inseperable from the Social Sciences
- Truth and Beauty
back to MultiMedia Intro
To WIK Home Page
To bbott Home Page
To AusBComp Home Page
email the Bill Bottorff
bbott@ausbcomp.com