- 6 Knowledge as the highest form of information

Это окончание невероятной информации про знание.

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here the delay of death is literally like a word, so it is unlikely that the trial and error method in its pure form is implemented in development algorithms.

In DBMS and file monitors, it is customary to perform a lexicographical, calendar or dimensional sorting (ordering) of data (files) before the search. The idea of ​​ordering is not new, it is the basis of any quick search. Documents in offices, books in libraries, soldiers in the ranks, money in cash registers, goods in warehouses, voter lists, household items, knowledge in my head - everywhere you need to “clean up” for a quick search. What is ordering like not generating information? Indeed, according to one of the common definitions, information is a measure of the orderliness of systems. This confirms the need for information for a quick search. The fastest (by the number of search steps) in an ordered system is a binary search. The binary search algorithm is characterized by: a) a hard relationship between the steps of the interval and the place of the search; b) equiprobability of the choice at each step within the current search interval. In turn, the dependence of the steps is due to the ordering of the system states, i.e. its informative. What happens if you eliminate any dependency between search steps? This is the case, for example, in a random search with a return of samples. The search becomes infinite (looped), because the uncertainty at each step does not decrease, as when searching with dependent steps. In short, the independence of search steps makes it meaningless. If it is caused by ignoring the orderliness of the states of the system, this indicates the lack of intelligence of the external selection mechanism. If the independence of the search steps is forced (due to the lack of orderliness), this indicates the internal lack of intelligence of the system. Both options are potentially disastrous for the system - its goals are not achieved. Thus, for the implementation of the final search, the ordering of the system states is needed - internal or external. The latter is introduced by the search algorithm itself, for example, due to the non-return of samples in a linear search.

The final search and selection transform the a priori uncertainty of the system states into valuable selective information. The selection method determines only its duration. The more organized the system, the less its uncertainty, the less effort (search steps) must be taken to transform uncertainty into selective information. Consequently, the more information the system generates at the self-organization stage, the more efficiently (faster) the search and selection mechanism transforms the remaining system entropy (as a measure of uncertainty) into a useful amount of selective information (finding a needle in a haystack is more problematic than in a needle table). On the other hand, an effective search must end with a single (definite) result with zero uncertainty. Consequently, the initial (maximum) entropy of the search cannot remain so until the end - it is the same as looking for a way out of the forest irregularly. Instead of the result - the endless process of his search. The entropy of effective search steps should be less than the maximum (initial), and zero after the last step.

Example 19. Of the many methods of searching for valuable information, the mechanisms of natural and artificial selection would have to "prefer" a search based on the maximum possible dependence of the steps and the equiprobability of the outcomes of each search step. The dependence of search steps is possible only at the expense of memory, which uses the information of previous steps about accumulated useful states for selection at the current step. With zero memory (infinite random search), the new states of the system elements are selected regardless of what states other elements have. As a result, there is no accumulation, concentration of valuable states. Such a system does not develop.

In fig. 6.1 shows the qualitative value scale of information.

Fig. 6.1. Value scale information

According to fig. 6.1 selective information used in the selection is more valuable for the development of the system than the ordering information (organization), which, in turn, is more valuable than information as a measure of the reflected diversity of the system states. But the most valuable is considered to be information in the form of knowledge acquired and entered into the thesaurus of the system as a result of search and selection. With each transition from a less valuable level of information to a more valuable information is not created from nothing, it only changes its form (code).

Example 20. Any development task (cognition, design, reproduction, the struggle for existence, etc.), in essence, is reduced to search and selection. Discovery, invention as a form of development of science and technology includes, along with many creative stages, the stage of preparation of a patent application, i.e. ordering of all data about the new phenomenon, device, substance, method (object of the application), about known analogues and, finally, about the closest analogue - prototype. The purpose - the distinctive signs testifying to the novelty and usefulness of the invention. In a word, the information code of the characteristics of the claimed subject, analogues and prototype is recoded into the most valuable code of distinctive features of the subject of the application.

Example 21. Self-organization and self-study of a developing biological system are nothing more than the sequential generation of increasingly valuable information codes according to fig. 6.1. An important place in this chain of transformations is occupied by the search activity of the biosystem, the need for searching, which is the driving force of the self-development of each individual, making him an active accomplice in the progress of the entire population. Human search activity is worthy of the epithets "development spring", "health prerequisite", "mechanism for accelerating brain development". The more complicated the brain, the higher the pace of its development and improvement as a function of search activity: “a brain that is well-organized is more than a brain that is well-filled” (M. Montaigne). Searching activity is not in vain considered to be one of the most important factors for the survival of systems due to the intensification of information exchange with the external environment for the formation of active knowledge as the basis of consciousness and the basis of creativity, without which knowledge is dead, for it is motionless.

So is it necessary to measure the value of information (and knowledge), how do we measure the "jewel" in carats, prices? We consider this impractical. The value of information is a relative category, it is useful to compare it, to compare it by qualitative relative scales (as shown in Figure 6.1), which is to a certain extent subjective. And nothing more!

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