Information processes in living nature. The concept of information process

Information processes in living nature are much more common than it may seem at first glance. Falling leaves are associated with them in autumn, spring germination in spring and other habitual phenomena. The ability to store, transmit and receive information is one of the characteristics of living matter. Without it, a normal metabolism, adaptation to environmental conditions, training and so on is impossible. Information processes in inanimate nature also exist, but differ in several features and primarily act as a measure of the orderliness of the system.

Ubiquitous information

What is information? To date, there are several options for determining this term. Every science that deals with information (such as all the sections of knowledge relate) uses its understanding. The general definition is difficult to derive. Intuitively, each person understands by information certain information and knowledge about the world around him. In mathematical sciences, data obtained by inference and after solving specific problems are added to them. In physics, information is a measure of the orderliness of a system, it is the opposite of entropy and is inherent in any material objects. In philosophy, it is defined as an immaterial form of motion.

Properties

According to most formulations, information reduces uncertainty by providing information about the world around and helping to bring the system into one of many states. This is easy to understand by analyzing the decision-making process. A person often can not make a choice between several behaviors until he receives additional information about the situation. In order for information to lead to the right decision, it must have a set of characteristics, such as:

• Intelligibility;
• utility;
• Completeness;
• objectivity;
• Reliability;
• relevance.

The concept of information process

All the various actions that can be performed with information are called information processes. These include getting and searching, transferring and copying, organizing and filtering, protecting and archiving.

Information processes in wildlife occur literally at every step. Any organism, unicellular or multicellular, constantly receives information about the environment, which lead to different changes in behavior or internal environment. Without collecting, processing and storing information, it is difficult to imagine the life of a creature. The simplest example is human thinking. At its core, it is nothing more than a process of constant processing of information about the environment, the state of the body, as well as information stored in memory, and so on.

Information system

All examples of information processes in nature take place within the framework of a certain system. It includes three components:

• Transmitter (source);
• Receiver (receiver);
• link.

The transmitter can be any organism or environment. For example, the constriction or dilatation of the pupil occurs under the influence of light. The source of information in this process is the space around the person or animal. The recipient in this case is the retina of the eye.

A communication channel is a medium that provides information delivery. In this capacity, a sound or visual wave can act, as well as oscillatory motions of a medium of a different nature.

Basic Information Processes

All the totality of actions that can be performed with information are grouped into several categories:

• broadcast;
• storage;
• collection;
• treatment.

A computer is an excellent example of the flow of information processes. He receives the data and, processing them, gives the necessary information or changes the operation of the system, looks for the necessary facts according to the given criteria, serves as a source, then a receiver of information. The prototype of the computer is the human brain. It also interacts constantly with the information flow, but the processes occurring in its depths are many times higher than those inherent in the machine.

Some nuances of information transfer

As already mentioned above, information processes in the living nature take place in a system consisting of a source, channel and receiver. During the transfer, the data in the form of a set of signals along the channel fall to the receiver. In this case, the physical meaning of the signals is often not identical to the meaning of the message. For the correct interpretation of information, an agreed set of rules and arrangements is used. They are necessary for the same understanding of the content of the message at all stages of working with it. Among such rules is the decoding of the Morse code and other similar systems, the rules for reading road signs, alphabets, and so on.

On the example of any language, it is easy to see that the meaning of information is curved not only from the characteristics of signals, but also from their location. In this case, the meaning of the same transmitted message each time can be slightly modified depending on the characteristics of the recipient. If the information is transmitted to a person, their interpretation is determined by various factors, from his life experience to the physiological state. In addition, the same message can be transmitted in different ways, using different alphabets, language systems or communication channels. So, you can focus on something with the help of the inscription "Warning!", The use of red color or a few exclamation marks.

Noise

The study of information processes includes the study of such a concept as noise. It is believed that if the message does not carry useful information, then it carries a noise. This way can be determined not only absolutely useless from a practical point of view information, but also messages consisting of signals that the recipient is not able to interpret. The noise can also be called data that has lost its relevance. That is, any information with time or due to various circumstances can turn into noise. No less likely is the reverse process. For example, the text in Icelandic language will be useless for someone who is not familiar with it and makes sense in the case of an interpreter or dictionary.

Human and society

Information processes in society do not fundamentally differ from those at other levels of the organization. The storage, transmission and processing of information in the society is carried out through special social institutions and mechanisms. One of the functions of society is the translation of knowledge. It is provided by the transmission of information from generation to generation. In a sense, this process is analogous to the copying of hereditary material.

Information processes in society ensure its cohesion. The lack of transfer of accumulated knowledge, including about norms and laws, leads to the separation of a single formation into individuals acting only on the basis of biologically based preconditions.

Storage and processing

In society, as in a separate organism, it is difficult to imagine the transfer of information without storing it. Databases, libraries, archives and museums contain a huge amount of information. Often, before handing them over to the students, the instructors are engaged in the processing of information. They classify, filter data, select individual facts according to the training program and so on.

History knows several cardinal changes related to the processing of information and led to an increasing accumulation of knowledge. Such informational revolutions include the invention of writing, book printing, computers, the opening of electricity. The invention of computers has become a logical consequence of the accumulation of knowledge. The computer is able to accommodate and process huge arrays of information, store them and transmit without loss.

The phenomena of living nature: examples of information processes

Information coming from the environment can be perceived not only by people. Animals and plants, individual cells and microorganisms catch signals and react to them in one way or another. The fall of the leaves in the fall and the growth of shoots in the spring, the adoption of a certain pose as a dog at the approach of an opponent, the allocation of the necessary substances in the cytoplasm of amoeba ... All these phenomena of wildlife are examples of changes in the system after information is received.

In the case of plants, the source of information is the environment. Transmission of information is also carried out between tissue cells. For the animal world is characterized by the exchange of information and from the individual to the individual.

One of the key moments in the wildlife is the transfer of hereditary information. In this process, you can isolate the source (DNA and RNA), the alphabet with a set of rules for its reading (the genetic code: adenine, thymine, guanine, cytosine), the information processing stage (DNA transcription), and so on.

Cybernetics

The theme "Information Processes" is one of the leading in cybernetics. This is the science of management and communication in society, living nature and technology. The founder of cybernetics is Norbert Wiener. The study of information processes in this science is necessary for understanding the features of the management of a particular system. In cybernetics, a managing and managed object is distinguished. They are communicated through direct and feedback. From the control object (for example, a person) signals (information) come to the controlled (computer), as a result of which the latter produces some actions. Then, on the feedback channel, the manager receives information about the changes that have occurred.

Cybernetic processes are associated with the vital activity of any living organism. The principles of management lie in the basis of public as well as computer systems. Actually, the concept of cybernetics was born in the process of searching for a common approach to the analysis of the activity of living organisms and various automata and the awareness of the similarity of the behavior of the socium and natural communities.

Thus, information processes in living nature are one of the characteristics of organisms of any complexity level. They are supplemented by the principles of direct and feedback and help maintain the consistency of the internal environment and timely response to changes in the surrounding world. Information processes in inanimate nature (with the exception of machines created by man) proceed in a single-step manner. Important, not noted above their difference, - the information transferred from the source, from it disappear. In the wildlife and vending machines such a phenomenon is not observed. In the overwhelming majority of cases, the transmitted information is still stored in the source.

The concept of the information process is used by various sciences. It can be called interdisciplinary. The theory of information to date is applicable to explaining a variety of processes.