The Nature of Information and Knowledge

The Nature of Information and Knowledge:

How Simply Stanislaw Lem Sees the Transformation of Percept Impulses into Information

To begin with, it is important to set the definitions for the constructs of information and knowledge to be able to talk about the nature of these two and to be able to investigate further the implementation of the views of Stanislaw Lem and the transformation of percept impulses into information. In essence, knowledge is understanding of the concept that can be either conscious or unconscious. There are several types of knowledge, for example partial, scientific and situated. Scientific knowledge is based on the scientific method of acquiring it like testing and measuring. Situated knowledge reflects knowledge that is based on the contexts and works from the point of view of an individual, thus one could say that it is less universal and more private. Lastly, partial knowledge if applied in the domain of psychology and to be explained through problem solving via use of knowledge is the type of knowledge when individual tries to apply it even when there is a lack of particular knowledge though problem solving is conducted through context interpretation. In some situations one is able to apply decision making or problem solving even though s/he does not have the particular knowledge for the tasks' completion which can be explained with the term intuition that works in collaboration with partial knowledge filling in the gaps when the decision has to be done or the problem has to be solved. A real life example could be trying to make a decision on your future. You might not have all the information needed, but yet have to decide if you should go work or continue studying at this given moment and decide to start working based on your gut feeling as you feel lost in your decisions. It turns out to be a good decision in a long run as you not simply gained a material benefit but also decided what exactly you want to study after this experience or a bad one if you feel that you wasted the time working instead of studying.

Furthermore, knowledge can be treated as a concept of memory as well. If we look at the knowledge as the information that is being stored in memory and later retrieved to be used for either decision making or problem solving when interpreting patterns from the environment. In this case, one can claim that knowledge can be declarative that derives from being consciously aware of what you know like some specific events, dates you have learned at school, historical facts and cultural knowledge. It can also be subdivided into semantic and episodic knowledge and basically this type of knowledge are just basic facts that we know about the world. Procedural knowledge is the knowledge of how to perform specific tasks, for example riding a bicycle or how to type on the computer. Procedural knowledge can also be subdivided into two further categories: scripts and algorithms/heuristics. Examples of the scripts are the certain ways we introduce ourselves to other people, or how we put on the shoes and examples of algorithms/heuristics are trying to work out the problem applying trial and error methods. As I have mentioned before it is structurally similar to memory model and is interrelated as knowledge is stored in memory for later retrieval when we need to use it in life. Yet, there is a question: how do we know that we have some sort of knowledge and how do we know that we do not have it? It is a question of being aware of something that we know or do not know and it could be put in the terms of conscious and unconscious knowledge. Conscious knowledge is the one we are aware of and it can be stored not just as a means of verbal, factual or motor information but also as biological. From the biological perspective the knowledge is being stored in our DNA genetic codes and immune system. Unconscious knowledge is the one we are not aware of and most of the time is revealed for us by the task performance.

Nevertheless, is knowledge a construct that is applicable only for humans? Can animals possess knowledge or even the artificial intelligence? I believe that animals indeed can possess knowledge but to more limited extent than a human being. As we have no means to test their factual memory and knowledge we can see patterns of knowledge when it comes to looking for food, shelter or nurturing the offspring. Even though, this phenomenon could be referred as instincts, yet if we remember the concept of biological knowledge we can put the sign of equity between these two constructs. Unfortunately, we are not able to investigate the declarative part of knowledge in any means in majority of animals, but there is some evidence in researching apes. For example, Koko the gorilla that was able to communicate with people using sign language that in a sense serves as an example showing that the gorilla was able to remember the signs and use them in accordance of the context as well as make sense of her life events and express them. The situation is in order: the gorilla had a partner gorilla that died, and the researcher Dr. Francine Patterson who taught Koko sign language has asked if she misses her friend that passed away and gorilla was able to answer that she was very upset and grieving for the loss of the friend gorilla. This suggests that Koko had knowledge about the death or losing someone and was able to directly express her feelings towards the situation by gathering the information from her environment and placing the judgment after processing it.