1.1 What is information?
The smallest unit of information is a signal. A signal is generated by a switch. The smallest unit of signal is existence. Here existence can be something happened or appeared due to a state change.
A set of signals is data. Data are static representation of stored signals. A set of data is information. Information here is a mathematical unit rather than a social one. If a sginal is 0, a derived data of the signals can be 00000. As signal is generated by a switch, the state changed switch can generate 1 instead of 0. The new data is 000001. The essence of data is there is an order. Any signal set with an order is defined as data.
Information is a set of such data. The difference of 00000 and 000001 is a change happened in the last signal point. Or the sum of the two data points. The concatenation of the data 00000.000001 is informational. Information can be defined as meta-data. If a datum has a special pattern such as 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8. The information of the data is that there is some incremental pattern in the data.
The set of information is knowledge. Knowledge contains prediction. If 1.2.3.4.5.6.7.8 is regarded as consistent (which is a piece of knowledge), it can be predicted that the next signal point is 9. The “consistency” in ths case can be a piece of knowledge. A set of knowledge is insight. Insight involves memories of knowledge. It means it is a dynamic system. Stored old knowledge provides insight. Insight is prediction based on time depedent state changes. An insight tells that as there was a consistent incremental change in the signals, it is possible that the future system will have an incremental pattern if there is consistency. It uses old memories, patterns, and the type of pattern (here regular consistency) and predicts that it will have a certain signal coming in a certain future time. It not only predicts the future state but the time of the state. The set of insights is decision. Decision is the encapsulation of such insights. Decision is the final outcome of the calculation. The decision of the above signal-> data-> information-> knowledge -> insight in state changing system (i.e., the universe) is that the number 11 is coming sometime in the future.
The decision is the result of a switch that involves all the signals to insight chain. It is fractal and recursive.
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