Infocognition
Langan begins by recognizing the pioneering work of Physicist John Wheeler who united the world of information theory with quantum mechanics ("It from Bit").
"All things physical are information-theoretic in origin and this is a participatory universe... Observer participancy gives rise to information; and information gives rise to physics."[1]
In "How come existence", John Wheeler wrote:
"No escape is evident from four conclusions: (1) The world cannot be a giant machine, ruled by any pre-established continuum physical law. (2) There is no such thing at the microscopic level as space or time or spacetime continuum. (3) The familiar probability function or functional, and wave equation or functional wave equation, of standard quantum theory provide mere continuum idealizations and by reason of this circumstance conceal the information-theoretic source from which they derive. (4) No element in the description of physics shows itself as closer to primordial than the elementary quantum phenomenon, that is, the elementary device-intermediated act of posing a yes-no physical question and eliciting an answer or, in brief, the elementary act of observer participancy. Otherwise stated, every physical quantity, every it, derives its ultimate significance from bits, binary yes-or-no indications, a conclusion which we epitomize in the phrase, it from bit."[2]
The CTMU builds upon this work by retooling the information concept to incorporate reflexive self-processing in a reality-theoretic context so as to make it "self-transducing information", where information and cognition are recursively inter-defined, their nexus point is infocognition. A quantum of infocognition is a syntactic operator or a noeon.
Quotes
"As readers of Noesis will recall, this crucial redefinition begins with a mutual, recursive interdefinition of information and cognition within a "reified tautology" called a quantum transducer. The quantum transducer, being paradoxiform by direct analogy with tautologically-based inference, models the way subjectively-tautological cognitive syntaxes transduce information in time. The universality of this model allows reality to be reduced to it, and thus to (cognitive) information. "Information" is the objective aspect of the quantum transducer for itself and for all others; it is cognition-for-cognition, equating generalistically to a cognitive identity relation on that part of reality to which it corresponds (i.e., the part containing all the transducers playing active and passive roles in it)."Langan, 1992, Noesis 76
"Because cognition and generic information transduction are identical up to isomorphism – after all, cognition is just the specific form of information processing that occurs in a mind – information processing can be described as “generalized cognition”, and the coincidence of information and processor can be referred to as infocognition. Reality thus consists of a single “substance”, infocognition, with two aspects corresponding to transduction and being transduced. Describing reality as infocognition thus amounts to (infocognitive) dual aspect monism. Where infocognition equals the distributed generalized self-perception and self-cognition of reality, infocognitive monism implies a stratified form of “panpsychism” in which at least three levels of self-cognition can be distinguished with respect to scope, power and coherence: global, agentive and subordinate.
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Retooling the information concept consists of three steps. First, it must be equipped with the means of its own transduction or transformative processing. Where information transduction is (cognitively) recognized as generalized cognition, this amounts to replacing it with a dual-aspect quantum of reflexivity, infocognition, which embodies telic feedback. Second, its bit structure, a simplistic and rather uninspired blend of 2-valued propositional logic and probability theory, must be extended to accommodate logic as a whole, including (1) predicate logic, (2) model theory and (3) language theory, broadly including the theories of mathematical languages, metalanguages and generative grammars. After all, since information does nothing but attribute linguistically-organized predicates to objects in the context of models, its meaning involves the mathematics of predicates, languages and models. And third, it must be generalized to an ultimate ancestral medium, telesis, from which cognitive syntax and its informational content arise by specificative feedback as part of a unified complex…a recursive coupling of information and metainformation, or transductive syntax.
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The answer is hiding in the question. Laws do not stand on their own, but must be defined with respect to the objects and attributes on which they act and which they accept as parameters. Similarly, objects and attributes do not stand on their own, but must be defined with respect to the rules of structure, organization and transformation that govern them. It follows that the active medium of cross-definition possesses logical primacy over laws and arguments alike, and is thus pre-informational and pre-nomological in nature…i.e., telic. Telesis, which can be characterized as “infocognitive potential”, is the primordial active medium from which laws and their arguments and parameters emerge by mutual refinement or telic recursion."Langan, 2002, PCID, pg. 33-35
"6) Even if CTMU were a definition rather than a theory, definitions are necessary components of theories. There is an inclusory relation, not a total distinction, between the two. In fact, the CTMU can be characterized as a THEORY of how the mind DEFINES and IS DEFINED by the universe. If you must, re-read Noesis 46 and 47."Langan, 1991, Noesis 58
Other Sources
"The similarity between the ideas of John Wheeler and other leading scientists and some ancient philosophies and scriptures are striking. [...] And as we do, let us not forget that knowledge is not all objective. Subject knowledge (call it intuitive, instinctive or revelationary) and objective knowledge (call it rational or scientific) go hand in hand. Observers, whether they be fundamental particles or human beings need to be brought into the picture too for it is them and their sensory and perceptional tools that give rise to the illusion of time. The digitization of perception in terms of bits of information may well be the way to go to complete the picture. Quite relevant to this effort are the provocative ideas contained Stephen Wolfram's book, A New Kind of Science. That is because, he has laid out the foundations for a program for a renewed understanding of all aspects of Nature recognizing that everything in Nature is ultimately digital and therefore the best tools to probe into its secrets are digital concepts and computer algorithms. This is especially appealing to the Hindu mind for it recognizes that the very first step in creation from a state of non-duality (Advaita) to a state of duality (Dvaita) is a binary process."[3]
