Information and Meaning: Use-Based Models in Arrays of Neural Nets

Authors: Patrick Grim¹; Paul St. Denis²; Trina Kokalis²

Source: Minds and Machines, Volume 14, Number 1, February 2004 , pp. 43-66(24)

Publisher: Springer

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Abstract:

The goal of philosophy of information is to understand what information is, how it operates, and how to put it to work. But unlike ‘information’ in the technical sense of information theory, what we are interested in is meaningful information. To understand the nature and dynamics of information in this sense we have to understand meaning. What we offer here are simple computational models that show emergence of meaning and information transfer in randomized arrays of neural nets. These we take to be formal instantiations of a tradition of theories of meaning as use. What they offer, we propose, is a glimpse into the origin and dynamics of at least simple forms of meaning and information transfer as properties inherent in behavioral coordination across a community.

Document Type: Research article

Affiliations: 1: Group for Logic and Formal Semantics, Department of Philosophy, SUNY at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA;, Email: pgrim@notes.cc.sunysb.edu 2: Group for Logic and Formal Semantics, Department of Philosophy, SUNY at Stony Brook, Stony Brook, NY 11794, USA

Publication date: 2004-02-01