Information as Self

Today's Lesson: Language as Information

As a fan of the non-fiction works of Robert Anton Wilson, it often perplexed me that he would put forward the same, seemingly simple ideas, over and over again. Why did he need to do this? Didn't people 'get it' the first time around? I certainly felt like I got it. Then I would meet other Wilson fans and discover that while they clearly shared my love for the author, they just didn't seem to 'get it'. Years later I would read works read previously. There he had those same ideas in the exact same language (same book, after all) but I viewed them differently. It felt as though I had missed some portion the first time around. Apparently I didn't get it. Then I viewed his works chronologically, discovering that he often had to change his opinions on things. Damn if he wasn't just as confused about all this mess as I was. But the underlying themes remain constant. The uncertainty principle just seems to proliferate and infect. Tao-Teh. Run away from people with answers.

For examples, let's do this in 2 parts.

1. In the last presidential election there was some business surrounding Kerry's involvement in Vietnam as a soldier. One side tried to tell you that John Kerry is a war hero. The other side tried to tell you that John Kerry is not a war hero. The problem with either of those statements? Both of them contain subjective information. Attempts at labeling him as a hero or not require a person to make value judgments and argue over false absolutes. As such only one of the following statements contains information.

a. John Kerry was a coward
b. John Kerry was a hero
c. John Kerry received three Purple Hearts

So I started to listen to politicians and pundits with a filter to separate out information from non-information. I found myself playing with the dials, trying to tune in some signal. They all say a hell of a lot. On a few, rare occasions information gets transmitted.

2. People in general transmit a hell of a lot of static. Pay attention to what individuals say to you and see if you can discern actual information from the static. I fail at this one all the time. I will automatically tune in what I want to hear, "Oh. Yes. Quite right. What a bright lad you are." I will summarily tune out or attack that which I don't agree with, "As long as you are shopping at Walmart you can shut the fuck up about your tiny pay check!" Spend a day listening and see if you can notice filters and auto-response mechanisms kicking in.

Our public face consists of what others perceive about us. Physical appearance contains some fairly concrete information at the moment perceived. Much of how we process that information we could classify as value judgments. For instance, my mohawk makes for a very strong information signal when people see me. Their brains will immediately run that information through the usual routines and filters and categorize and label me based on that piece of information. Much of that process will be illogical programs. After all, it's just a haircut.