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Basic concepts of entropy, order, organization, information, knowledge, and meaning

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Abstract

The classical concept of entropy is shown not to reflect the essence of the second law of thermodynamics both phenomenologically and theoretically. A new concept of entropy, S n , is given, which offers a particular physical meaning of entropy and provides an experimental determination of the entropy value. This allows one to avoid many attempts at defining the phenomenon of life via entropy characteristics and give definitions of life and an elementary structure of both life itself and devices that simulate life (automata, computers, and robots.). This, in turn, allows one to assign a substantive sense to the mathematical character of corresponding sciences (information theory, cybernetics, system theory, etc.) and define operational basic concepts of information, knowledge, meaning, and control, as well as to formulate operational concepts of order, organization, and self-organization and implement a new approach to problems of biology, biophysics, information theory, cybernetics, and system theory.

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Original Russian Text © M.I. Shterenberg, 2013, published in Nauchno-Technicheskaya Informatsiya, Seriya 1, 2013, No. 7, pp. 13–18.

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Shterenberg, M.I. Basic concepts of entropy, order, organization, information, knowledge, and meaning. Sci. Tech.Inf. Proc. 40, 131–136 (2013). https://doi.org/10.3103/S0147688213030039

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.3103/S0147688213030039

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