100 Informational environments
not mapping onto its source will have to be evaluated with respect to the sender’s
underlying purposes, as these may include production errors (i.e. malformed signals) and errors of mapping (i.e. misplaced signals) as well as instances of intentional non-mapping (i.e. deceptive purposes).
As to the condition of the regularities of mapping, the relation between signal
and source is determinate for natural information, as the signal’s presence and
shape could not have been otherwise under a given set of conditions, whereas
it is indeterminate for purposefully created information. The signal may or may
not be chosen to mimic natural signals. The signal may be chosen to depict
its source, to bear a more abstract symbolic relation to its source, or simply
to identify its spatio-temporal location. What unifies all kinds of signal-source
relations is that they are, first and foremost, relations of mathematical mapping,
as explicated on p. 67–68 above. As such, they can be abstract and indirect in
manifold ways. A q-bird’s track in the woods physically matches and, in this
sense, resembles the shape of the bird’s feet, whereas the orientation of magnetic particles in magnetotactic bacteria, although faithfully mapping onto the
gradient of oxygen concentration in marine waters, does not bear a relation
of resemblance to the source that would be detectable either for the bacteria
themselves or for the human observer. The only relevant variable to be mapped
is that of direction. An arrow and an array of symbols used on a signpost are
supposed to map the identity and relative location of a restaurant, a cashpoint
or a restroom. In conjunction, they will be the relevant variables for variantly
disposed users (Do I need food, cash or a restroom now?). A description of the
location of each of these entities from a local person, if and when accurate, will
include the same mapping relations.
As to the condition of the status of instances of non-mapping, if a signpost,
description or other purposefully created signal are malformed, erroneous or
deceptive, the mapping between signal and source will not obtain, without necessarily disqualifying the signal as an informational artefact. This is a condition that
does not and cannot apply to natural information, no matter what its degree of
reliability might be. As Dretske (1986), Millikan (2004) and others have pointed
out, only things that have been designed to provide information can actually, and
for various reasons, fail to do so. My weather report but not black clouds on the
horizon may be mistaken about the imminence of rain. Still, black clouds may be
a reliable-enough indicator of rain for guiding my response. Conversely, I might
devise a signal with the purpose of not providing information, achieving my mischievous purpose if I deceive the receiver precisely by producing something that
has the appearance of a properly formed and properly mapping signal. Only if and
only when the possibility of deception arises, and hence only where signals are
purposefully produced, cooperation and coordination within a population of signal users becomes an issue deserving closer scrutiny on the informational level.
Hence, they are first mentioned in IE-2. Populations that exclusively use natural
information may or may not act in cooperative or coordinated fashion, but the
only way in which they can define or defy cooperation and coordination will be in
revealing or concealing a natural signal to other individuals.
not mapping onto its source will have to be evaluated with respect to the sender’s
underlying purposes, as these may include production errors (i.e. malformed signals) and errors of mapping (i.e. misplaced signals) as well as instances of intentional non-mapping (i.e. deceptive purposes).
As to the condition of the regularities of mapping, the relation between signal
and source is determinate for natural information, as the signal’s presence and
shape could not have been otherwise under a given set of conditions, whereas
it is indeterminate for purposefully created information. The signal may or may
not be chosen to mimic natural signals. The signal may be chosen to depict
its source, to bear a more abstract symbolic relation to its source, or simply
to identify its spatio-temporal location. What unifies all kinds of signal-source
relations is that they are, first and foremost, relations of mathematical mapping,
as explicated on p. 67–68 above. As such, they can be abstract and indirect in
manifold ways. A q-bird’s track in the woods physically matches and, in this
sense, resembles the shape of the bird’s feet, whereas the orientation of magnetic particles in magnetotactic bacteria, although faithfully mapping onto the
gradient of oxygen concentration in marine waters, does not bear a relation
of resemblance to the source that would be detectable either for the bacteria
themselves or for the human observer. The only relevant variable to be mapped
is that of direction. An arrow and an array of symbols used on a signpost are
supposed to map the identity and relative location of a restaurant, a cashpoint
or a restroom. In conjunction, they will be the relevant variables for variantly
disposed users (Do I need food, cash or a restroom now?). A description of the
location of each of these entities from a local person, if and when accurate, will
include the same mapping relations.
As to the condition of the status of instances of non-mapping, if a signpost,
description or other purposefully created signal are malformed, erroneous or
deceptive, the mapping between signal and source will not obtain, without necessarily disqualifying the signal as an informational artefact. This is a condition that
does not and cannot apply to natural information, no matter what its degree of
reliability might be. As Dretske (1986), Millikan (2004) and others have pointed
out, only things that have been designed to provide information can actually, and
for various reasons, fail to do so. My weather report but not black clouds on the
horizon may be mistaken about the imminence of rain. Still, black clouds may be
a reliable-enough indicator of rain for guiding my response. Conversely, I might
devise a signal with the purpose of not providing information, achieving my mischievous purpose if I deceive the receiver precisely by producing something that
has the appearance of a properly formed and properly mapping signal. Only if and
only when the possibility of deception arises, and hence only where signals are
purposefully produced, cooperation and coordination within a population of signal users becomes an issue deserving closer scrutiny on the informational level.
Hence, they are first mentioned in IE-2. Populations that exclusively use natural
information may or may not act in cooperative or coordinated fashion, but the
only way in which they can define or defy cooperation and coordination will be in
revealing or concealing a natural signal to other individuals.