Class lecture 6/5 - Systems Theory, etc.

Tuesday's class lecture covered systems theory, the emergence of knowledge, chaos theory, and a few other topics. A system is generally defined as a whole composed of interdependent parts. The common phrase "the whole is greater than the sum of its parts" exists because in addition to the parts themselves, the whole contains structure, interactions, and relationships between the parts. We also discussed the idea of emergence with regards to knowledge. People's knowledge in the information age has emerged from teaching themselves, as opposed to being taught. The same can be applied to governing - we govern ourselves. Additionally, we create ourselves by creating a boundary to keep out the environment.

We also discussed the butterfly effect, which I thought was the most interesting aspect of chaos theory. It suggests that the smallest actions can have huge influence on other seemingly random occurrences in the world, such as a butterfly flapping its wings in China causing a hurricane in the Caribbean.

History of Communication Part II, etc.

In Monday's class lecture, we finished the history of communication, from the invention of the telegraph in 1844 to the first use of the satellite in 1957. Other inventions that came later were the fax machine and data transmission. All of the technologies converged to create new media.

We also discussed the beginning of the information age, and Claude Shannon's information theory. Shannon maintained that energy, not matter, is the fundamental "stuff" of the universe. He ultimately defined information as "what is needed to reduce uncertainty." Information also reduces chaos and entropy and creates order. We also discussed sender/receiver/feedback loops, which creates a circuit. The negative feedback limits what information survives.

I thought it was interesting to learn that information is different from knowledge. I always thought they were the same thing, but they really go hand in hand, along with wisdom.

Systems Theory, Chaos Theory, and More

There was a part of last class was a little more challenging for me to understand.  I do not have the book yet, but I am sure that when I read the chapters I will full understand.  But for now, I understood what Professor Strate meant by the definition of a system.  A system is a whole, composed of interdependent parts and how the whole is the sum on its parts.  I also understood emergence and what close and open systems were.  What I had trouble understanding was Benoit Mandelbrot's presentation on TED talks about fractals and the art of roughness.  It could have been because his accent was a little troubling to understand, but I was not able to fully keep track of what he was saying.  Other than that, many of the things we learned were insightful.  I never thought that science words such as virus were used for internet terms as well, "going viral."  I also enjoyed learning about the butterfly effect.  The analogy used was, "a butterfly flaps its wings in China and can cause a hurricane in the Caribbean."  This means that some information can intensify, causing a feedback loop and can have an enormous impact on people.  This butterfly effect has to do with the theory of complexity, which is closely related to the chaos theory.  I enjoyed the sink example when describing that out of chaos, comes order or vice versa.  At first when you turn on a sink, the water comes out in spurts and does not flow the way is should.  Only after a few seconds does the water finally become organized and comes out flowing the way it should.  It was also interesting that the definition of information first defined by Clause Shannon took a shift in emphasis, causing information to be in the middle of order and entropy.  The self replicating genes called memes was something I found valuable to know as well.  Memes describe the spreading of ideas.  Although Mendelbrot's presentation was found online and not in the textbook (that I know of), I look forward to researching more about his research.