The Evolution of Communication Systems

TL;DR

This paper explores how communication systems evolve through interactions and co-variation, emphasizing stages like differentiation and self-organization, and discusses conditions for their stabilization and artificial evolution.

Contribution

It introduces a framework for understanding the co-evolution and stabilization of communication systems, extending Shannon's theory to complex, adaptive networks.

Findings

Communication systems co-evolve through interaction and co-variation.

Stabilization conditions include segmentation, stratification, and self-organization.

Artificial evolution of communication systems can be systematically characterized.

Abstract

One can study communications by using Shannon's (1948) mathematical theory of communication. In social communications, however, the channels are not "fixed", but themselves subject to change. Communication systems change by communicating information to related communication systems; co-variation among systems if repeated over time, can lead to co-evolution. Conditions for stabilization of higher-order systems are specifiable: segmentation, stratification, differentiation, reflection, and self-organization can be distinguished in terms of developmental stages of increasingly complex networks. In addition to natural and cultural evolution, a condition for the artificial evolution of communication systems can be specified.