Information Conversion with Intelligence Creation: The Law that Governs the Information Discipline

Introduction

Due to the very high importance of information resource to human kinds and the human society on one hand and the common unsatisfactory toward the established theory of information on the other hand, there have been long lasting hot discussions during the past decades on the subject of what information theory and information science should be. This has been a most concerned open-issue in information studies till the present time.

Having had investigations in depth and width, we realized that the most crucial cause for the unsuccessfulness of information studies is owing to the methodology, namely “divide and conquer”, being applied in the studies of information, which has been very successful in physical science studies though. The “divide and conquer” has led the information discipline to be broken up into three sub-disciplines, that is the information theory, knowledge theory and intelligence theory, and to be mutually isolated to each other among the three. Furthermore, the concept of information itself in the sub-discipline of information theory is divided into syntactic, semantic, and pragmatic information with the latter two being ignored, the knowledge theory is divided into two independent theories, and the intelligence theory into three exclusive theories, as it is shown in Figure 1.

Figure 1.

The methodology of ‘Divide and Conquer’ and information study

As is seen from Figure 1, within the discipline of information studies, the essential interlinks among information theory, knowledge theory, and intelligence theory, have been lost almost completely. This is an odd situation.

What are the lessons we should learn from the outcome expressed in Figure 1 then? The answer has been, in fact, so clear and also straightforward that the traditional methodology of “divide and conquer” should be given up in the information studies no matter how powerful and successful it has been in physics studies.

But, what kind of methodology should be followed in information studies? It is obviously unimaginable anyway if there is no proper methodology observed for such a profound studies as information science. Consequently, the most urgent issue that should be dealt with is to make efforts for seeking the proper methodology for information studies, among any others.

Model And Methodology For Information Studies

Based on our studies in information science for over three decades we recognized that, radically different from matter, information process within the interaction between human subject and object in environment is a kind of ecological system, able to make the information grow (conversed) into knowledge and then to intelligence that can be expressed in the model shown in Figure 2 (Zhong, 1988).

Figure 2.

Ecological model for information process

The upper part in Figure 2 represents the human subject and the lower part stands for the object in environment. The ecological system of information process within the model will typically perform the following functions:

• 1.

  The information generated by object in environment, which is termed the ontological information as it is determined only by object and has nothing to do with the subject, exerts onto the human subject;

• 2.

  The Ontological information is conversed to the epistemological information via the function of human perception if it has been concerned, and selected to be manipulated, by the human subject;

• 3.

  The epistemological information can in turn be conversed to knowledge via the function of human cognition;

• 4.

  Epistemological information is further conversed to intelligent strategy under the support of the knowledge possessed and under the guidance of the goal for problem solving via the function of human decision-making;

• 5.

  Intelligent strategy is then conversed to intelligent action for dealing with the object via the function of control.