STUDIES IN LOGIC, GRAMMAR AND RHETORIC 63 (76) 2020 DOI: 10.2478/slgr-2020-0031 This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution BY 4.0 License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0) Michał Stelmach Warsaw University of Technology Faculty of Administration and Social Sciences e-mail: [email protected] ORCID: 0000-0003-3820-1775 HEURISTIC POTENTIAL OF ANTONI KĘPIŃSKI’S INFORMATION METABOLISM MODEL AND DATA SMOG Abstract. In this paper I present the explanatory potential of Antoni Kępiń- ski’s model of information metabolism in the question of data smog (data glut, information overload). Kępiński’s model is not well known and the bibliography concerning the model of information metabolism is still rather poor. In the arti- cle I present the model as a good heuristics for explaining information exchange between the system and the environment. The particular aim of my delibera- tions is to use the model of information metabolism to discuss the pathological, although common phenomenon of data smog. This allows for a holistic view of the problem and allows for new statements on data smog, ethical consequences and counteracting the negative consequences of information overload. Keywords: Antoni Kępiński, information metabolism, information, data smog, data glut, information overload. 1. Introduction Antoni Kępiński’s theory of energy and information metabolism, since it has been formulated until now, has already been accepted, disinterpreted, forgotten, and has recently been re-examined by specialists and is again at- tracting scientific interest (Ceklarz, 2018). We can speak of a rediscovery, although perhaps not yet a renaissance of Kępiński’s thought. My article is part of the stream of rereading the theory of energy-information metabolism and indicating its heuristic attractiveness. Kępiński’s bibliography is still not large, the reason is, among other things, earlier attempts to read his thoughts and a large number of misunderstandings (including a purely bio- logical reading of the information metabolism model, or the theoretical sta- tus of Kępiński’s statements) (Ceklarz, 2018). Kępiński’s theory, however, presents itself as an excellent heuristics. In the article I will use Kępiński’s ISSN 0860-150X 121 Michał Stelmach model to show and explain the action of the phenomenon known as data smog (or data glut, information overload) (Shenk, 1997). Data smog is a term introduced at a time when the Internet was still only a useful tool, not a “home” or “natural environment” of man. A data smog can be described as an disordered pressure of information, both in quantitative and qualitative terms (Tadeusiewicz, 1999). By analogy to smog as a meteorological phenomenon, it is a destructive phenomenon. The range of its harmfulness extends from personal disorientation, through health ef- fects reflected in populations, to the information war (Snyder, 2018). I’ll start with a terminological remark. In the next part, I will present Kępiński’s model of information metabolism. I will point to the central con- cept of information for the model. I will then move to a brief presentation of the data smog problem. In the next part I will put interpretative hypothe- ses concerning the heuristic potential of the information metabolism model to explain the data smog phenomenon. In the last part I will summarize the results. 2. Terminological remark The choice of terminology requires a short explanation. Kępiński speaks in some places about energy-informational metabolism and in some places about information metabolism. This is due to the fact that he treats man as a psycho-physical unity, organism, system, (Maciuszek, 2015, pp. 25–29). Energy metabolism is the exchange of energy between the system and the en- vironment (Kępiński, 1972a, p. 231). Information metabolism is an exchange of information with the environment (Kępiński, 1972a, p. 231). In his work, Kępiński focuses on information metabolism and the relations between in- formation metabolism and energy metabolism. For our subject, the model of information metabolism is most important. The theory of information metabolism was previously considered in purely biological interpretations. The basis for such interpretations were several examples given by Kępiński, illustrating the exchange of information with the environment in analogy to cell behaviour. The biological reading of the theory of information metabolism was criticised (Ceklarz, 2018, p. 171). Jacek Bomba writes: Kępiński’s concept is not a scientific theory. It should not be evaluated according to the criteria typical of such theories. (Bomba, 2001, as cited in Ceklarz, 2018, p. 171). 122 Heuristic Potential of Antoni Kępiński’s Information Metabolism Model... It should be noted that scientific criticism of the concept of information metabolism is based on a misunderstanding resulting from biological inter- pretation. The biological model is not the hard core of the theory, but it is only an example – an image that, by analogy, is supposed to help to properly grasp the meaning of the theory. The issue of the methodological status of the model of information metabolism and its relation to purely biological in- terpretation was excellently presented by Jan Ceklarz in the article Revision of Antoni Kępiński’s concept of information metabolism (Ceklarz, 2018). He postulates the separation of the biological model as an analogous image from the core of the theory, which may prove useful in psychiatry or cognitive sciences as good heuristics. Ceklarz writes: However, after separating the biological model from information metabolism this anthropological model, which is key in the work of Kępiński, regains its ex- planatory potential through its simplicity, interdisciplinarity, reliably executed phenomenological description of existential moments of a human, as well as deep rooting in the psychiatry. One of the possibilities to use Kępiński’s con- cept in cognitive science is its reference to the important trends in the works of a neurobiologist Antonio Damasio (Ceklarz, 2018). Ceklarz sees the possibility of using Kępiński’s model in cognitive sci- ences and referring to Damasio’s work. My idea is quite similar. I would like to apply Kępiński’s model and show its explanatory potential in interpreting data smog. I cannot discuss Damasio’s work here. However, the similarity of the shots lies in the fact that in both cases the same heuristics is used to explain a phenomenon that is of interest to the science. 3. Kępiński’s information metabolism model From the biological point of view, Kępiński classifies the signals that come to the system as pleasant and unpleasant. Pleasant ones are responsi- ble for fulfilling the basic needs of the system. Unpleasant indicates a lack of satisfaction, or a risk resulting from this lack (Kępiński, 2014, p. 162). Kępiński points to supreme biological laws generating potentials of fulfil- ment and non-fulfilment. He calls them: the right to preserve one’s own life and the right to preserve the life of the species (Kępiński, 2014, p. 162). The right to preserve one’s own life requires fulfillment, and in case of non-fulfillment the system dies. Consequently, it generates a high poten- tial for receiving pleasant and unpleasant signals. The right to preserve the species seems more abstract, because with non-fulfilment of the sys- 123 Michał Stelmach tem does not die, and the population may die only in extraordinary cases (Kępiński, 2014, p. 162). The basic signals, subjectively perceived as pleas- ant or unpleasant, give the system roots in the direct contact with the environment. Information metabolism is the exchange of information be- tween the system and the environment (Kępiński, 2012, p. 73). In the case of a primitive system, the metabolism is limited as closely as possible to the realization of biological laws. On the other hand, in humans, pleas- ant and unpleasant signals refer to a greater spectrum of phenomena than just the realization of the laws of preserving one’s own and species’ life (Kępiński, 2012, p. 73). In general, Kępiński says that the exchange of en- ergy and information with the environment is the essence of life and dis- tinguishes the world of animated nature from the world of inanimate na- ture. Life requires an order of information, without it energy metabolism is destroyed and death occurs (Kępiński, 2012, p. 73). The death is a fall into chaos, a deconstruction of order, life is a relative, local order. The or- der has the potential to be knowledgeable and is an essential compo- nent of the life of an intelligent being. Animals that spend most of their lives in isolation suffer from physical (e.g. their cerebral cortex is thinner) and mental (they exhibit a number of pathological behaviors) disorders (Kępiński, 2012, p. 103). Similarly, people undergoing isolation (sensory deprivation), exposed for a long time to monotonous stimuli, or distorted impulses may show a number of mental disorders (Kępiński, 2012, p. 103). They show disorders of simple activities, such as drawing activities. How- ever, the spectrum also includes more serious disorders, such as disorders of logical reasoning, logical thinking in general, or even delusional tendencies (Kępiński, 2012, p. 103). Information metabolism is found in all animated nature. Kępiński be- lieves that every living organism survives because of the negative entropy of its environment, changing the order of its environment to its own (Kę- piński, 2014, p. 164). This applies first and foremost to man, of course, but ultimately it also applies to other species of living beings. The system is in a constant struggle with the external environment. The fight is to impose an information order. Usually in such a fight the external environment takes an advantage over the individual. The victory of one’s own order over the order of the external world is usually combined with pleasant feelings (Kępiński, 2014, p. 169). Kępiński refers to the example of creativity – including artistic creation, i.e., first arranging one’s thoughts, building a plan, and then transforming the external environment, organising it according to one’s own model.