Standing on the Shoulders of Giants

A day or two ago we discussed (lopsidedly, perhaps) the concept of matter and information, with objects as a means of encapsulating and replicating knowledge.

A related concept is communications networks as a means of communicating and storing information, and also conveying knowledge. We could be a bit pedantic and say that disk drives in computers are just another example of matter storing info (which they are), but that was yesterday's point. Instead, let's talk about the concept of networks as a means of providing connectivity between people, and language as means of conveying concepts.

Shannon and other brilliant inventors came up with exquisite theories of information, including that of communications channels, symbols, signal and noise, and data rates. Computers and data storage ushered in the "information age", where management of sets of data, it's storage, security, access, processing, and so forth, and its ability to offer new insights and efficiencies. Data without context -- additional information that enables it to be understood and consumed -- is nothing more than noise, and it is this context that is critical. Computer networks use defined protocols to define and interpret the context of the data they transmit, and people similarly use language to do the same thing.

Philosophers may debate about whether your "red" is the same as mine, and your mental image of "car" may not contain the same details as mine, but when you say "red car" you have an efficient if imprecise way of communicating a concept to me. We have a shared lexicon for such words an concepts, and over our lives our brains do an impressive job of encoding such knowledge in useful patterns. Importantly, though, you use your patterns to talk to yourself in your own head, and these known patterns significantly facilitate or impede your ability to easily comprehend new concepts.

If you have a base of related concepts, it's easier to understand a new, more complex construct. Recollect back to elementary school and think about learning math -- calculus builds upon algebra's symbolic base, algebra builds upon basic multiplication and division, multiplication builds upon addition, which builds upon counting. It isn't reasonable to jump into differential equations if all you can do is count, but it's just a modest leap. And, if you're like me, when you grasp a new concept you get a little dopamine burst as "Aha! I've got it!" occurs.

Similarly, I suspect that inventors of new mathematical theorems not only have the "Aha!" sensation, but that without a basis of underlying concepts it is not possible even for a genius to imagine that next step, and to make that mental leap of understanding. As Newton and others said: "If I have seen farther, it is because I stand on the shoulders of giants." Each of us can readily do this, as we can readily be carried along on a mosh-pit of giants with a few minutes of Googling on any topic of interest.

Humans communicate effectively when they have shared languages, and today every field and specialty has its specific set of terms, acronyms, and concepts that make this possible. Companies, university labs, professional societies, and industry standards groups all create functional networks of such similarly-equipped experts who can efficiently employ existing knowledge and potentially expand the base with new concerpts.

And that's where today's monologue leads; to two places actually:

1) Much of human know-how is captured and maintained by networks of people, and more recently also their computer networks, and their shared concepts and work paradigms that enable them to leverage existing knowledge and to create new leaps of perception. Useful concept can quite readily be communicated to others on the same knowledge network, and the beauty of the information age is that ideas can be rapidly and accurately replicated in the minds of others, and thus become part of the collective base of networked knowledge.

2) Creativity and imagination are to a large extent enabled and limited by a person's or a network of people's mastery of related and underlying concepts. However, when imagination manifests a new concept, it can replicate quickly, and a valuable aspect of our specialized economy is its ability to engender creation of new insights and knowledge.