The Description

Abstract

With the rather long prologue now over, it is time to begin the promised description of growth and development. In Chapter 5, it became clear that the success of information theory is owed to the fact that the logarithmic form of the entropy function is unique in fulfilling certain desiderata. The verbal, intuitive concepts are most fundamental and are given concrete quantitative expression in the consequent mathematical definitions. Information theory is built around a superb mathematical definition that assigns a number to common notions.

“If, as we have been led to think, self-determination is the criterion of growth, and if self-determination means self-articulation, we shall be analyzing the process by which growing civilizations actually grow if we investigate the way in which they progressively articulate themselves.” Arnold J. Toynbee A Study of History