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Essences of Interaction
(Kunovich 2009), and information (defined as data, context, and the model
of interactions) is sometimes thought of as an intrinsic attribute of a message
that precipitates human or computer (human surrogate) action (Shannon
and Weaver 1963). The broader definition of “force” captures the general
notion of overcoming resistance to change. For the purposes of interaction,*
that change is internal to an object. Speaking only of an object’s internal
actions, the force imparted due to the interaction is opposed by the internal
resistances of the object (e.g., mechanism and its control, and the environment of the object’s internal structure, as distinct from the mechanism of
conversion). In this sense, the object’s mechanism reconciles the action of
the object as a consequence of the interaction. That change in the object due
to the interaction results in a change in the object’s energy. Therefore, the
energy represents the capacity of the changed object. Interaction results in
a change in capacity.
The empirical form of interaction takes place through forces that act on
mechanisms. Another metaphorical interpretation of interaction could be
thought of as the exchange of capacity that results in actions of the objects.
Since both objects have undergone change due to an interaction, there can be
both individual object changes as well as change to the context in which the
objects have interacted. The local environments may have received energy
lost from the enactments of the object’s internal mechanisms; the absorption
of heat resultant from the physical heating of the atmosphere along the path
of transmissions; or the reduction in the interpretable information due to a
reduced signal-to-noise ratio due to volumetric dissipation of energy over
distance. Both objects have experienced losses due to the interaction. The
aggregate consequence of the metaphor of two-object interaction is not the
simple sum of one action from the sending object with that of the action of
the receiving object. The objects, their internal mechanisms, their actions,
their losses, and the resulting changes they undergo are different. Systems
are built up of objects that interact and can behave differently from one interaction to the next.
Examples of the transfer of energy, in the case of physical matter, include
photons and electrons that collide with other physical objects. Transfers of
energy also occur through forms of matter or ideas as representations of
material wealth (including money, information, and knowledge). To reiterate,
if there is no change in an object, there is no energy loss. Change can result
from interaction that is internal or external. No change can occur without an
interaction. Therefore, various constructs of energy could include building a
spacecraft, designing a banking system, presenting materials to an audience,
acting on plans to travel, paying for an item at the check-out counter, discussing philosophy, painting a house, or investing in education.
* For the purposes of integration, that change is an aggregation of the objects within a system.