Skip to main content
SpringerLink
Log in

Self-organisation of symbolic information

  • Regular Article
  • Published:
The European Physical Journal Special Topics Aims and scope Submit manuscript

Abstract

Information is encountered in two different appearances, in native form by arbitrary physical structures, or in symbolic form by coded sequences of letters or the like. The self-organised emergence of symbolic information from structural information is referred to as a ritualisation transition. Occurring at some stage in evolutionary history, ritualisation transitions have in common that after the crossover, arbitrary symbols are issued and recognised by information-processing devices, by transmitters and receivers in the sense of Shannon's communication theory. Symbolic information-processing systems exhibit the fundamental code symmetry whose key features, such as largely lossless copying or persistence under hostile conditions, may elucidate the reasons for the repeated successful occurrence of ritualisation phenomena in evolution history. Ritualisation examples are briefly reviewed such as the origin of life, the appearance of human languages, the establishment of emergent social categories such as money, or the development of digital computers. In addition to their role as carriers of symbolic information, symbols are physical structures which also represent structural information. For a thermodynamic description of symbols and their arrangements, it appears reasonable to distinguish between Boltzmann entropy, Clausius entropy and Pauling entropy. Thermodynamic properties of symbols imply that their lifetimes are limited by the 2nd law.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this article

Log in via an institution

Price excludes VAT (USA)
Tax calculation will be finalised during checkout.

Instant access to the full article PDF.

Institutional subscriptions

Similar content being viewed by others

References

  1. H.H. Pattee, Biosystems 60, 5 (2001)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. J.G. von Herder, Abhandlung über den Ursprung der Sprache, welche den von der Königl. Academie der Wissenschaften für das Jahr 1770 gesezten Preis erhalten hat (Christian Friedrich Voß, Berlin, 1772), English translation by A. Gode, Essay on the Origin of Language. J.-J. Rousseau, Essai sur l'origine des langues, où il est parlé de la Mélodie, et de l'Imitation musicale (A. Belin, Paris, 1781), English translation by J.H. Moran, Essay on the Origin of Language which treats of Melody and Musical Imitation. In:Two Essays On the Origin of Language, Jean-Jacques Rousseau and Johann Gottfried Herder (The University of Chicago Press, Chicago and London, 1966)

  3. W. Ebeling, R. Feistel, Chaos und Kosmos: Prinzipien der Evolution (Spektrum Akademischer Verlag, Heidelberg, Berlin, Oxford, 1994)

  4. W. Ebeling, R. Feistel, in Chaos, Information Processing and Paradoxical Games. The Legacy of John S Nicolis, edited by G. Nicolis, V. Basios (World Scientific Publishing, Singapore, 2015), p. 141

  5. R. Feistel, W. Ebeling, Physics of Self-Organization and Evolution (Wiley-VCH, Weinheim, 2011)

  6. E. Schrödinger, What is Life – the Physical Aspect of the Living Cell (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 1944)

  7. L. Brillouin, J. Appl. Phys. 24, 930 (1953)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  8. Yu.L. Klimonovich, Turbulent Motion, the Structure of Chaos (Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London, 1991)

  9. R. Feistel, W. Ebeling, Entropy 18, 193 (2016)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  10. R. Feistel, in Selbstorganisation und Determination, edited by U. Niedersen, L. Pohlmann (Duncker & Humblot, Berlin, 1990), p. 83

  11. J. Huxley, Proc. Zool. Soc. Lond. 1914, 491 (1914)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  12. J. Huxley, Phil. Trans. Royal Soc. 251, 249 (1966)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  13. R. Feistel, in Information Studies and the Quest for Transdisciplinarity, edited by M. Burgin, W. Hofkirchner (World Scientific, Singapore, 2016), submitted

  14. G. Tembrock, Grundlagen des Tierverhaltens (Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, 1977)

  15. C.E. Shannon, Bell Syst. Techn. J. 27, 379, 623 (1948)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  16. W. Ebeling, R. Feistel, Physik der Selbstorganisation und Evolution (Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, 1982)

  17. M.A. Jiménez-Montaño, R. Feistel, O. Diez-Martínez, Nonlin. Dyn. Psychol. Life Sci. 8, 445 (2004)

    Google Scholar 

  18. F. Klix, Erwachendes Denken. Eine Entwicklungsgeschichte der menschlichen Intelligenz (Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin, 1980)

  19. J. Butterfield, Interface Focus, 2, 101 (2012)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  20. M.A. Fuentes, Entropy 16, 4489 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  21. R. Feistel, in Models of Selforganization in Complex Systems MOSES, edited by W. Ebeling, M. Peschel, W. Weidlich (Akademie-Verlag, Berlin, 1991), p. 37

  22. M. Burgin, tripleC 9, 347 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  23. L.D. Landau, E.M. Lifshitz, Statistical Physics (Pergamon Press, Oxford, 1958)

  24. R. Feistel, W. Ebeling, Physica A 93, 114 (1978)

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  25. R. Feistel, W. Ebeling, Evolution of Complex Systems: Selforganisation, Entropy and Development (Deutscher Verlag der Wissenschaften, Berlin; Kluwer Academic Publishers, Dordrecht, Boston, London, 1989)

  26. W. Ebeling, R. Feistel, J. Nonequil. Thermodyn. 17, 303 (1992)

    Google Scholar 

  27. M. Born, Physics in My Generation, Chapter 13: Symbol and Reality, (Springer-Verlag, New York, 1969), p. 132

  28. S.P. Obukhov, Phys. Rev. Lett. 65, 1395 (1990)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  29. G. Pruessner, Self-Organised Criticality (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2012)

  30. M. Burgin, J.H. Schumann, Semiotica 160, 185 (2006)

    Google Scholar 

  31. M. Burgin, Theory of information: Fundamentality, diversity and unification (World Scientific, New York, London, Singapore, 2010)

  32. M. Planck, Vorlesungen über die Theorie der Wärmestrahlung (Johann Ambrosius Barth, Leipzig, 1906)

  33. D.N. Subarew, Statistische Thermodynamik des Nichtgleichgewichts (Akademie-Verlag Berlin, 1976)

  34. S.R. De Groot, P. Mazur, Non-equilibrium Thermodynamics (Dover Publications, New York, 1984)

  35. M. Planck, Theorie der Wärmestrahlung, 6. Auflage (Johann Ambrosius Barth, Leipzig, 1966)

  36. M. Planck, Phys. Z. 13, 165 (1912)

    Google Scholar 

  37. P. Strehlow, Physik J. 4, 45 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  38. W. Ebeling, Physica A 182, 108 (1992)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  39. S. Ishioka, N. Fuchikami, Chaos 11, 734 (2001)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  40. M. Goldstein, J. Chem. Phys. 134, 124502 (2011)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  41. J. Ufflink, Compendium of the Foundations of Classical Statistical Physics (Universiteit Utrecht, The Netherlands, 2006), http://mdpi.org/lin/entropy/UffinkFinal-2006.pdf, web page accessed 25 March 2016

  42. L. Pauling, J. Am. Chem. Soc. 57, 2680 (1935)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  43. R. Feistel, W. Wagner, J. Mar. Res. 63, 95 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  44. G.P. Johari, J. Chem. Phys. 132, 124509 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  45. I. Gutzow, J. Schmelzer, J. Non-Cryst. Solids 355, 581 (2009)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  46. S.A. Shelke, J.A. Piccirilli, Nature 515, 347 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  47. F.H.C. Crick, J. Mol. Biol. 38, 367 (1968)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  48. M.A. Jiménez-Montaño, C.R. de la Mora-Basanez, T. Pöschel, BioSyst. 39, 117 (1996)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  49. M.A. Jiménez-Montaño, BioSystems 98, 105 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  50. T. Tlusty, Phys. Life Rev. 7, 362 (2010)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  51. F.H.C. Crick, J. Mol. Biol. 19, 548 (1966)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  52. M. Eigen, R. Winkler-Oswatitsch, Naturwiss. 68, 282 (1981)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  53. M.A. Jiménez-Montaño, H.F. Coronel-Brizio, A.R. Hernández-Montoya, A. Ramos-Fernández, Physica A 454, 117 (2016)

    Article  ADS  MathSciNet  Google Scholar 

  54. H.P. Yockey, J. Comput. Chem. 24, 105 (2000)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  55. H.P. Yockey, Information Theory, Evolution and the Origin of Life (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2005)

  56. M. Eigen, From Strange Simplicity to Complex Familiarity (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2013)

  57. M. Eigen, Orig. Life Evol. Biosph. 24, 241 (1994)

    ADS  Google Scholar 

  58. R.U. Ayres, Information, Entropy, and Progress – A New Evolutionary Paradigm (AIP Press, Woodbury, 1994)

  59. J. Avery, Information Theory and Evolution (World Scientific, Singapore, 2003)

  60. R. Dawkins, The Blind Watchmaker (W.W. Norton, New York, 1996)

  61. M. Donald, Triumph des Bewusstseins (Klett-Cotta, Stuttgart, 2008), American original: A mind so rare: The evolution of human consciousness (W.W. Norton, New York, 2001)

  62. A.M. Turing, Phil. Trans. Roy. Soc. Lond. B 237, 37 (1952)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  63. A. Gierer, H. Meinhardt, Kybernetik 12, 30 (1972)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  64. R.B. Cocroft, R.L. Rodriguez, BioSci. 55, 323 (2005)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  65. B.P. Uvarov, The Aridity Factor in the Ecology of Locusts and Grasshoppers of the Old World (Unesco Report NS/AZ/204, Paris, 1955)

  66. S. Tanaka, Formos. Entomol. 25, 131 (2005)

    Google Scholar 

  67. Z. Ma, X. Guo, H. Lei, T. Li, S. Hao, L. Kang, Sci. Rep. 5, 8036 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  68. R. Feistel, S. Feistel (2015) Locust phase transitions, https://doi.org/10.13140/RG.2.1.1954.3203 (unpublished)

  69. G. Ariel, A. Ayali, PLoS Comput. Biol. 11, e1004522 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  70. K. von Frisch, The Dance Language and Orientation of Bees (Harvard University Press, Cambridge, 1967)

  71. D. Lochmann, Information und der Entropie-Irrtum (Shaker Verlag, Aachen, 2012)

  72. T.E. Rinderer, L.D. Beaman, Theor. Appl. Gen. 91, 727 (1995)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  73. R.N. Johnson, B.P. Oldroyd, A.B. Barron, R.H. Crozier, Am. Gen. Assoc. 93, 170 (2002)

    Google Scholar 

  74. J.C. Nieh, Formos. Entomol. 31, 1 (2011)

    Google Scholar 

  75. J. Dale, C.J. Dey, K. Delhey, B. Kempenaers, M. Valcu, Nature 527, 367 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  76. C. Darwin, The Origin of Species by Means of Natural Selection or the Preservation of Favored Races in the Struggle for Life, 6th London Edition, with Additions and Corrections (Hurst and Company Publishers, New York, 1911)

  77. J.H. Reichholf, Der Ursprung der Schönheit (C.H. Beck, München, 2011)

  78. Q. Li, J.A. Clarke, K.-Q. Gao, C.-F. Zhou, Q. Meng, D. Li, L. D'Alba, M.D. Shawkey, Nature 507, 350 (2014)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  79. K. Lorenz, Das sogenannte Böse (Borotha-Schoeler, Wien, 1963)

  80. G. Osche, Zur Evolution optischer Signale bei Pflanze, Tier und Mensch (Friedrich-Schiller-Universität, Jena, 1983)

  81. O. Koenig, Kultur und Verhaltensforschung (Deutscher Taschenbuch-Verlag, München, 1970)

  82. I. Eibl-Eibesfeldt, Liebe und Haß (Piper, München, 1970)

  83. R. Bilz, Lebensgesetze der Liebe (S. Hirzel, Leipzig, 1943)

  84. W. Wickler, Sind wir Sünder? (Droemer & Knaur, München, 1969)

  85. A.D. Jonas, D.F. Jonas, Curr. Anthropol. 16, 626 (1975)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  86. W.T. Fitch, The Evolution of Language (Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2010)

  87. T. Janson, Eine kurze Geschichte der Sprachen (Elsevier, München, 2006). English original: A Short History of Languages (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2002)

  88. M.D. Ross, M.J. Owren, E. Zimmermann, Curr. Biol. 19, 1106 (2009)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  89. R. Provine, Laughter: A Scientific Investigation (Penguin Books, New York, 2000)

  90. Z.-X. Luo, I. Ruf, J.A. Schultz, T. Martin, Proc. R. Soc. B 278, 28 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  91. N.P.M. Todd, C.S. Lee, Front. Hum. Neurosci. 9, 444 (2015)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  92. A. Gopnik, A. Meltzoff, P. Kuhl, Forschergeist in Windeln (Ariston, München, 2000), American original: The Scientist in the Crib (William Morris, New York, 1999)

  93. R. Held, Y. Ostrovsky, B. deGelder, T. Gandhi, S. Ganesh, U. Mathur, P. Sinha, Nature Neurosci. 14, 551 (2011)

    Article  Google Scholar 

  94. P.F. MacNeilage, The Origin of Speech (Oxford University Press, Oxford, 2008)

  95. C. Everett, D.E. Blasi, S.A. Roberts, PNAS 112, 1322 (2015)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  96. Plato, Kratylos, German translation by Friedrich E.D. Schleiermacher, Platons Werke, 2. Band (Georg Reimer, Berlin, 1857), http://www.opera-platonis.de/Kratylos.pdf

  97. J. Rifkin, The Zero Marginal Cost Society: The Internet of Things, the Collaborative Commons, and the Eclipse of Capitalism (Palgrave Macmillan, New York, 2014)

  98. S. Wimmer, in Ägypten. Die Welt der Pharaonen, edited by R. Schulz, M. Seidel (Könemann in der Tandem Verlag, Königswinter, 2004), p. 343

  99. R. Borger, F. Ellermeier, Assyrisch-babylonische Zeichenliste (Butzon & Bercker Kevelaer, Neukirchner Verlag, Neukirchen-Vluyn, 1981)

  100. L.L. Cavalli-Sforza, Gene, Völker und Sprachen (dtv, München, 2001), Italian original: Geni, populi e lingue (Adelphi Edizioni, Milano, 1996)

  101. R.D. Gray, Q.D. Atkinson, Nature 426, 435 (2003)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  102. M. Pagel, Q.D. Atkinson, A.S. Calude, A. Meade, PNAS 110, 8471 (2013)

    Article  ADS  Google Scholar 

  103. R.K. Logan, The Alphabet Effect (William Morrow and Company, New York, 1986)

  104. G. Ifrah, Universalgeschichte der Zahlen (Campus-Verlag, Fankfurt/Main, 1991), French original: Histoire Universelle des Chiffres (Editions Seghers, Paris, 1981)

  105. L. Lévy-Bruhl, Les Fonctions Mentales Dans Les Sociétés Inférieures (Les Presses universitaires de France, Paris, 1928), English edition: How Natives Think (Allen & Unwin, London, 1926)

  106. T. Dantzig, Number, the Language of Science (Macmillan Company, London, 1930)

  107. J.A. Schumpeter, Das Wesen des Geldes: Aus dem Nachlaß herausgegeben und mit einer Einführung versehen (Vandenhoeck & Ruprecht, Göttingen, 2008)

  108. A. Smith, Der Wohlstand der Nationen (dtv, München, 2013), English original An Inquiry into the Nature and Causes of the Wealth of Nations (Methuen & Co., London, 1789)

  109. K. Marx, Das Kapital. Kritik der Politischen Oekonomie, 1. Band (Dietz, Berlin, 1951)

  110. T.H. Greco, Money: Understanding and Creating Alternatives to Legal Tender (Chelsea Green, White River Junction, 2001)

  111. W. Hofkirchner (ed.), The Quest for a Unified Theory of Information (Gordon and Breach, Amsterdam, 1999)

Download references

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Leibniz Institute for Baltic Sea Research, D-18119, Warnemünde, Germany

    R. Feistel

Authors
  1. R. Feistel
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to R. Feistel.

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Check for updates. Verify currency and authenticity via CrossMark

Cite this article

Feistel, R. Self-organisation of symbolic information. Eur. Phys. J. Spec. Top. 226, 207–228 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2016-60170-9

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Revised:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1140/epjst/e2016-60170-9

Search

Navigation