The Semantic Sphere 1 The Semantic Sphere 1 Computation, Cognition and Information Economy Pierre Lévy First published 2011 in Great Britain and the United States by ISTE Ltd and John Wiley & Sons, Inc. Apart from any fair dealing for the purposes of research or private study, or criticism or review, as permitted under the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988, this publication may only be reproduced, stored or transmitted, in any form or by any means, with the prior permission in writing of the publishers, or in the case of reprographic reproduction in accordance with the terms and licenses issued by the CLA. Enquiries concerning reproduction outside these terms should be sent to the publishers at the undermentioned address: ISTE Ltd John Wiley & Sons, Inc. 27-37 St George’s Road 111 River Street London SW19 4EU Hoboken, NJ 07030 UK USA www.iste.co.uk www.wiley.com © ISTE Ltd 2011 The rights of Pierre Lévy to be identified as the author of this work have been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988. ____________________________________________________________________________________ Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Lévy, Pierre, 1956- The semantic sphere 1 : computation, cognition, and information economy / Pierre Levy. p. cm. Includes bibliographical references and index. ISBN 978-1-84821-251-0 (hardback) 1. Semantic Web. 2. Information society. 3. Human information processing. 4. Metalanguage. I. Title. TK5105.88815.L485 2011 025.04'27--dc23 2011029149 British Library Cataloguing-in-Publication Data A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library ISBN 978-1-84821-251-0 Printed and bound in Great Britain by CPI Group (UK) Ltd., Croydon, Surrey CR0 4YY Table of Contents Acknowledgements ................................... xv Chapter 1. General Introduction........................... 1 1.1.The vision: to enhance cognitive processes ................. 2 1.1.1.Thesemanticimperative.......................... 2 1.1.2.Theethicalimperative........................... 4 1.1.3.Thetechnicalimperative.......................... 4 1.2.Atransdisciplinaryintellectualadventure.................. 5 1.2.1.Theyearsoftraining,1975-1992..................... 5 1.2.2.Theyearsofconception1992-2002................... 11 1.2.3.Theyearsofgestation,2002-2010.................... 22 1.3.The result: toward hypercortical cognition ................. 27 1.3.1.Asystemofcoordinates.......................... 28 1.3.2.An information economy ......................... 31 1.3.3.AHypercortex to contribute to cognitive augmentation ....... 32 1.4.Generalplan of this book............................ 35 PART 1. THE PHILOSOPHY OF INFORMATION .................... 37 Chapter 2. The Nature of Information ....................... 41 2.1.Orientation.................................... 41 2.2.Theinformationparadigm........................... 45 2.2.1.Informationandsymbolicsystems.................... 45 2.2.2.Thesourcesoftheinformationparadigm................ 47 2.2.3.Informationbetweenformanddifference............... 50 2.2.4.Informationandtime............................ 54 2.3.Layersofencoding............................... 56 2.3.1.Alayeredstructure............................. 56 vi The Semantic Sphere 1 2.3.2. The physicochemical and organic layers ................ 56 2.3.3.Thephenomenallayer........................... 58 2.3.4.Thesymboliclayer............................. 60 2.3.5.Asyntheticviewofthelayersofinformation............. 64 2.4.Evolutionininformationnature........................ 66 2.5.Theunityofnature............................... 69 2.5.1.Naturalinformationandculturalinformation............. 69 2.5.2.Natureasa“greatsymbol”........................ 70 Chapter 3. Symbolic Cognition ............................ 75 3.1.Delimitationofthefieldofsymboliccognition............... 76 3.1.1.Singularity.................................. 76 3.1.2.Socialandtechnicaldimensions..................... 76 3.1.3. Symbolic manipulation goes far beyond linguistic competence and “reason” ............................. 77 3.2.The secondary reflexivity of symbolic cognition.............. 78 3.2.1.Theprimaryreflexivityofphenomenalconsciousness........ 78 3.2.2.Thesecondaryreflexivityofdiscursiveconsciousness........ 79 3.3.Symbolicpoweranditsmanifestations................... 80 3.4. The reciprocal enveloping of the phenomenal world and semantic world .................................. 82 3.5.The open intelligence of culture........................ 84 3.6.Differences between animal and human collective intelligence ..... 85 Chapter 4. Creative Conversation .......................... 89 4.1.Beyond“collectivestupidity”......................... 89 4.2.Reflexive explication and sharing of knowledge .............. 92 4.2.1.Personal and social knowledge management.............. 92 4.2.2.Theroleofexplicationinsocialknowledgemanagement...... 95 4.2.3.Dialecticofmemoryandcreativeconversation............ 99 4.3.Thesymbolicmediumofcreativeconversation.............. 103 4.3.1.Thequestionofthesymbolicmedium................. 103 4.3.2. The metalinguistic articulation of organized memory ........ 106 4.3.3.Howcancreativeconversationorganizedigitalmemory?...... 108 Chapter 5. Toward an Epistemological Transformation of the Human Sciences ................................. 113 5.1.Thestakesofhumandevelopment...................... 113 5.1.1.Thescopeofhumandevelopment.................... 114 5.1.2.Insearchofmodelsofhumandevelopment.............. 115 5.1.3.Socialcapitalandhumandevelopment................. 116 Table of Contents vii 5.1.4. The knowledge society and human development: a six-pole model .................................. 117 5.2.Critiqueofthehumansciences........................ 120 5.2.1.Humansciencesandnaturalsciences.................. 120 5.2.2.Internalfragmentation........................... 122 5.2.3.Methodological weaknesses........................ 123 5.2.4.Lackofcoordination............................ 124 5.3.Thethreefoldrenewalofthehumansciences................ 125 5.3.1.New possibilities for collaboration.................... 126 5.3.2.New possibilities for observation, memory and calculation ..... 127 5.3.3.Towardasystemofsemanticcoordinates............... 130 5.4.TheOuroboros.................................. 133 Chapter 6. The Information Economy ....................... 135 6.1.The symbiosis of knowledge capital and cognitive labor ......... 136 6.1.1.Thegenealogyofcapital.......................... 136 6.1.2. The commons: the interdependence of human populations, ecosystems of ideas and biological ecosystems ................ 138 6.2.Toward scientific self-management of collective intelligence ...... 140 6.2.1.Political economy and collective intelligence ............. 140 6.2.2.The autopoiesis of collective intelligence................ 143 6.3.Flowsofsymbolicenergy........................... 144 6.3.1.Theproblemofthegeneralequivalent................. 144 6.3.2.Thepowerofmana............................. 145 6.3.3.Thecompletecircuitofinformation................... 148 6.4.Ecosystemsofideasandthesemanticinformationeconomy...... 148 6.4.1.An“eco”paradigmforthinkingaboutsemanticinformation.... 149 6.4.2.Ecosystemsofideasinepistemology.................. 150 6.4.3.Generalcharacteristicsofecosystemsofideas............. 152 6.5.Thesemanticinformationeconomyinthedigitalmedium........ 154 6.5.1.Theprophetsofmediaandthe“globalbrain”............. 154 6.5.2. Semantic information economy and the commons in the digital medium ............................... 156 PART 2. MODELING COGNITION ............................ 159 Chapter7. Introduction to the Scientific Knowledge of the Mind ...... 161 7.1.Researchprogram................................ 161 7.1.1.Professionofpragmaticfaith....................... 161 7.1.2.Initial questions ............................... 161 7.1.3.Instruments................................. 162 7.1.4.Subject-object................................ 163 viii The Semantic Sphere 1 7.1.5. Method and result.............................. 163 7.2.Themindinnature............................... 165 7.2.1.The uni-duality of communication nature ............... 165 7.2.2.Theuni-ternarityofcommunicationnature............... 168 7.3.Thethreesymbolicfunctionsofthecortex................. 171 7.3.1.Thesyntacticfunction........................... 172 7.3.2.Thesemanticfunction........................... 173 7.3.3.Thepragmaticfunction.......................... 173 7.3.4. The sign (S)/being (B)/thing (T) dialectic of symbolic cognition ....................................... 174 7.4.TheIEMLmodelofsymboliccognition................... 176 7.4.1. The semantic sphere: the mathematical basis of the IEML model of the mind ................................. 176 7.4.2.TheCortex,theHypercortexandthesemanticsphere........ 176 7.4.3.TheCortex,theHypercortexandthemind............... 177 7.4.4.GeneralstructureoftheIEMLmodel.................. 177 7.4.5.IEMLasmachine:formalproperties.................. 179 7.4.6. IEML as metalanguage: semantic properties .............. 180 7.4.7.IEMLasauniverseofgames:pragmaticproperties......... 181 7.5.ThearchitectureoftheHypercortex..................... 184 7.5.1.TheInternet................................. 185 7.5.2.TheIEMLsemanticsphere........................ 185 7.5.3.InterdependenceofthesemanticsphereandtheInternet....... 186 7.5.4. New perspectives in computer science and the human sciences ....................................... 186 7.6.Overview: toward a reflexive collective intelligence