Facts and Information
97
this is incorrect: Form and structure are Gestalt, wholistic aspects of an object
and are accessible only to observers able to see in Gestalts.
A related error of common sense is the belief that it suffices to cast a glance
at an object in order to spontaneously notice and take in the details of its shape.
This is incorrect, because although the object we look at has a shape, the actual
details and description of the shape are not explicit on the material surface,
but must be scanned and assembled by the viewer. In other words, the shape
information is not disclosed gratis by the material object: The information
is produced by the observer as a result of a task of mental computation. In
brief, the information as to an object’s form and structure is not located in the
physical object, but elsewhere: It is located in the observer. Every object, then,
has two separate aspects: A material aspect, and the information which details
its formal structure. The latter is manufactured by the observer.
What has been said for a material object is no less true for a fact, which is the
description of an episode of matter-in-motion. The physical matter in motion
is the “territory”: It is part of the cosmic flow of matter in the universe. The
fact proper is its description as an encapsulated whole event. It is information,
and is located in the observer. The important conclusion here is that every fact
consists of two separate pieces of reality: A purely material process that plays
out in the physical universe, and information which captures its form and
structure. The latter is not attached to the matter-in-motion, but separately
located in the observer. Every event has a material aspect located in the material
universe, and quite separately from it, information about its structure in the
form of a Gestalt description.
As stated above, “information” is something that must be informative. For
example, if you look at a message written in an alien script, it is not information
to you because you derive nothing out of it. It is only information for a person
able to read it. Thus, the structure latent in a solid object is information only
for an observer able to take it in. Would it be information to a machine able
to scan it and read out a certain kind of description? Clearly it would not: The
reason is that the readings of the machine have exactly the same status as the
structure of the object. The readings might be the positions of pointers on an
instrument: They are again something material that has to be perceived by an
observer to be real.
I have argued that nothing definite and specific can exist in the universe
without the participation of a Gestalt subject. This does not mean that nothing
exists, but things that are present in the universe outside the view of any
sentient observer are latent and unrealized. They become actualized when
living observers individuate them by assigning features and structure to them
and perceiving them as wholes.
97
this is incorrect: Form and structure are Gestalt, wholistic aspects of an object
and are accessible only to observers able to see in Gestalts.
A related error of common sense is the belief that it suffices to cast a glance
at an object in order to spontaneously notice and take in the details of its shape.
This is incorrect, because although the object we look at has a shape, the actual
details and description of the shape are not explicit on the material surface,
but must be scanned and assembled by the viewer. In other words, the shape
information is not disclosed gratis by the material object: The information
is produced by the observer as a result of a task of mental computation. In
brief, the information as to an object’s form and structure is not located in the
physical object, but elsewhere: It is located in the observer. Every object, then,
has two separate aspects: A material aspect, and the information which details
its formal structure. The latter is manufactured by the observer.
What has been said for a material object is no less true for a fact, which is the
description of an episode of matter-in-motion. The physical matter in motion
is the “territory”: It is part of the cosmic flow of matter in the universe. The
fact proper is its description as an encapsulated whole event. It is information,
and is located in the observer. The important conclusion here is that every fact
consists of two separate pieces of reality: A purely material process that plays
out in the physical universe, and information which captures its form and
structure. The latter is not attached to the matter-in-motion, but separately
located in the observer. Every event has a material aspect located in the material
universe, and quite separately from it, information about its structure in the
form of a Gestalt description.
As stated above, “information” is something that must be informative. For
example, if you look at a message written in an alien script, it is not information
to you because you derive nothing out of it. It is only information for a person
able to read it. Thus, the structure latent in a solid object is information only
for an observer able to take it in. Would it be information to a machine able
to scan it and read out a certain kind of description? Clearly it would not: The
reason is that the readings of the machine have exactly the same status as the
structure of the object. The readings might be the positions of pointers on an
instrument: They are again something material that has to be perceived by an
observer to be real.
I have argued that nothing definite and specific can exist in the universe
without the participation of a Gestalt subject. This does not mean that nothing
exists, but things that are present in the universe outside the view of any
sentient observer are latent and unrealized. They become actualized when
living observers individuate them by assigning features and structure to them
and perceiving them as wholes.