There are so many definitions for the term "information" today! It is said that there are more than a hundred of them. What does it mean? Probably, the fact that specialists studying this term do not always fully understand the subject of their research. In order to understand what this word actually means, one should refer to its etymology.
From time immemorial
Linguists believe that its roots go back to the East and are formed from the Arabic verb "arafah" meaning "to know, to recognize." The ancient Greeks did not understand how to read this word correctly, so just in case they read it in both directions. So it turned out: form and morph. Synonyms. Another formation from: ma'rifa, this is "what I know." This shows a very significant difference between the two types of information, often not distinguished by specialists. Information as a difference between things and concepts, as well as information as knowledge. But we will not delve so deeply into the meaning of this word. Perhaps much more importanttoday, what role this term began to play in our world. And its value cannot be underestimated.
New time - new terms
Information is more than just knowledge. Possession of it provides tremendous opportunities both in business and in politics. It has become the most important resource of the state. Information is evaluated in the same way (if not higher) as the main natural, economic, labor, material resources. A number of psychologists argue that rational humanity is slowly but surely turning into informational. And by the way, along with the traditional method of managing society (the same administrative-organizational) and individuals, a special method of centralized influence on the population is gaining more and more popularity - the method of information management. And indeed. With the development of mass media, and in particular the Internet, there is such a situation that information is a tool to influence the minds of consumers. So she began to meet us everywhere. It has become so much that consumers have to filter it every day, filtering out the "garbage". Otherwise, you can fall under its influence and turn into a zombified, completely controlled creature.
In our fast-paced age, the concept of "entropy of information" has appeared. What is it, you ask? This is a criterion for the randomness of information, the uncertainty of the appearance of a certain symbol of the primary alphabet. In the absence of information loss, it is numerically equal to the amount of information per symbol of the transmittedmessages.
Information is more than power
The West has long appreciated the importance of information. The administration of the United States at the state level considers it as a strategic resource. It can be obtained as a result of data processing and analysis using a specialized analysis system. Naturally, the protection of information in the United States is at a very high level. Perhaps the most secret services, the FBI and the CIA, are constantly doing this. Thus, in the 21st century, information is both a state resource and a subject of bargaining with other states. It has become as expensive as oil or gold.
