chromosomes)
– hormonal system
Olfactory transmission (Latin olfacere = smelling, employing the sense of smell) (carrier: chemical compounds):
– scents emitted by gregarious insects (pheromones)
Electro-chemical transmission:
– nervous system
How can a code be recognized? In the case of an unknown system, it is not always easy to decide whether one is dealing with a real code or not. The conditions required for a code are now mentioned and explained, after having initially discussed hieroglyphics as an example. The following are necessary conditions (NC), all three of which must be fulfilled simultaneously for a given set of symbols to be a code:
NC 1: A uniquely defined set of symbols is used.
NC 2: The sequence of the individual symbols must be irregular.
Examples:
–.– – –.– * – – * * . – .. – (aperiodic)
qrst werb ggtzut
Counter examples:
– – –...– – –...– – –...– – –... (periodic)
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – (the same symbol constantly repeated)
r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
NC 3: The symbols appear in clearly distinguishable structures (e.g., rows, columns, blocks, or spirals).
In most cases a fourth condition is also required:
NC 4: At least some symbols must occur repeatedly.
Examples:
Maguf bitfeg fetgur justig amus telge.
Der grüne Apfel fällt vom Baum.
The people are living in houses.
It is difficult to construct meaningful sentences without using some letters more than once. [11] Such sentences are often rather grotesque, for example:
Get nymph; quiz sad brow; fix luck (i, u used twice, j, v omitted).
In a competition held by the Society for the German Language, long single words with no repetitions of letters were submitted. The winner, comprised of 24 letters, was: Heizölrückstoßabdämpfung (Note that a and ä for example, are regarded as different letters because they represent different sounds.)
There is only one sufficient condition (SC) for establishing whether a given set of symbols is a code:
SC 1: It can be decoded successfully and meaningfully (e.g., hieroglyphics and the genetic code).
There are also sufficient conditions for showing that we are NOT dealing with a code system. A sequence of symbols cannot be a code, if:
a) it can be explained fully on the level of physics and chemistry, i.e., when its origin is exclusively of a material nature. Example: The periodic signals received in 1967 by the British astronomers J. Bell and A. Hewish, were thought to be coded messages from space sent by "little green men." It was, however, eventually established that this "message" had a purely physical origin, and a new type of star was discovered: pulsars.
or
b) it is known to be a random sequence (e.g., when its origin is known or communicated). This conclusion also holds when the sequence randomly contains valid symbols from any other code.
Example 1:
Randomly generated characters: AZTIG KFD MAUER DFK KLIXA WIFE TSAA. Although the German word "MAUER" and the word "WIFE" may be recognized, this is not a code according to our definition, because we know that it is a random sequence.
Example 2:
In the Kornberg synthesis (1955) a DNA polymerazae resulted when an enzyme reacted with Coli bacteria. After a considerable time, two kinds of strings were found:
alternating strings:
... TATATATATATATATATATATATAT ...
... ATATATATATATATATATATATATA ...
homopolymere strings:
... GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG ...
... CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC ...
Although both types of strings together contained all the symbols employed in the genetic code, they were nevertheless devoid of information, since necessary condition (NC) 2 is not fulfilled.
The fundamentals of the "code" theme were already established by the author in the out-of-print book having the same name as the present one [G5, German title:
Am Anfang war die Information
]. A code always represents a mental concept and, according to our experience, its assigned
– hormonal system
Olfactory transmission (Latin olfacere = smelling, employing the sense of smell) (carrier: chemical compounds):
– scents emitted by gregarious insects (pheromones)
Electro-chemical transmission:
– nervous system
How can a code be recognized? In the case of an unknown system, it is not always easy to decide whether one is dealing with a real code or not. The conditions required for a code are now mentioned and explained, after having initially discussed hieroglyphics as an example. The following are necessary conditions (NC), all three of which must be fulfilled simultaneously for a given set of symbols to be a code:
NC 1: A uniquely defined set of symbols is used.
NC 2: The sequence of the individual symbols must be irregular.
Examples:
–.– – –.– * – – * * . – .. – (aperiodic)
qrst werb ggtzut
Counter examples:
– – –...– – –...– – –...– – –... (periodic)
– – – – – – – – – – – – – – (the same symbol constantly repeated)
r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r r
NC 3: The symbols appear in clearly distinguishable structures (e.g., rows, columns, blocks, or spirals).
In most cases a fourth condition is also required:
NC 4: At least some symbols must occur repeatedly.
Examples:
Maguf bitfeg fetgur justig amus telge.
Der grüne Apfel fällt vom Baum.
The people are living in houses.
It is difficult to construct meaningful sentences without using some letters more than once. [11] Such sentences are often rather grotesque, for example:
Get nymph; quiz sad brow; fix luck (i, u used twice, j, v omitted).
In a competition held by the Society for the German Language, long single words with no repetitions of letters were submitted. The winner, comprised of 24 letters, was: Heizölrückstoßabdämpfung (Note that a and ä for example, are regarded as different letters because they represent different sounds.)
There is only one sufficient condition (SC) for establishing whether a given set of symbols is a code:
SC 1: It can be decoded successfully and meaningfully (e.g., hieroglyphics and the genetic code).
There are also sufficient conditions for showing that we are NOT dealing with a code system. A sequence of symbols cannot be a code, if:
a) it can be explained fully on the level of physics and chemistry, i.e., when its origin is exclusively of a material nature. Example: The periodic signals received in 1967 by the British astronomers J. Bell and A. Hewish, were thought to be coded messages from space sent by "little green men." It was, however, eventually established that this "message" had a purely physical origin, and a new type of star was discovered: pulsars.
or
b) it is known to be a random sequence (e.g., when its origin is known or communicated). This conclusion also holds when the sequence randomly contains valid symbols from any other code.
Example 1:
Randomly generated characters: AZTIG KFD MAUER DFK KLIXA WIFE TSAA. Although the German word "MAUER" and the word "WIFE" may be recognized, this is not a code according to our definition, because we know that it is a random sequence.
Example 2:
In the Kornberg synthesis (1955) a DNA polymerazae resulted when an enzyme reacted with Coli bacteria. After a considerable time, two kinds of strings were found:
alternating strings:
... TATATATATATATATATATATATAT ...
... ATATATATATATATATATATATATA ...
homopolymere strings:
... GGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG ...
... CCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCCC ...
Although both types of strings together contained all the symbols employed in the genetic code, they were nevertheless devoid of information, since necessary condition (NC) 2 is not fulfilled.
The fundamentals of the "code" theme were already established by the author in the out-of-print book having the same name as the present one [G5, German title:
Am Anfang war die Information
]. A code always represents a mental concept and, according to our experience, its assigned
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