Title: Converging formalisations of communicational spaces

Authors: Gilbert Ahamer

Addresses: Interfaculty Department of Geoinformatics ZGIS, Paris Lodron University Salzburg, Schillerstrasse 30, Salzburg, Austria

Abstract: Based on statistical mechanics and on communication and its probabilities, this article deals with the concept of communicational spaces and tries to renew, clarify and formalise it from a physical and mathematical standpoint. Starting out from the likelihood of communication, distance in space is defined according to the number of options to communicate. A century ago, the formalisms of statistical thermodynamics were developed mainly by Ludwig Boltzmann to deal with a large number of states in a state space. Such formalism is applied to the large number of options to communicate. In this tradition, a definition of distance in space is attempted. Each form of communication is thought to constitute its own type of space. More generally, space is seen as an opportunity for processes; and time is seen as a substrate to enact processes. In a less formulaic chapter, a definition of space is explored on the basis of principal options to interact. The social and practical implications of such conception are explored. In conclusion, the deep meaning of space is understood in the sense that space separates possibilities for communication.

Keywords: space; metrics; geometry; statistical thermodynamics; paradigms; Ludwig Boltzmann; communication; philosophy; Naturphilosophie; ontology; formalisation; communicational spaces; statistical mechanics.

DOI: 10.1504/IJCONVC.2015.076021

International Journal of Convergence Computing, 2015 Vol.1 No.3/4, pp.259 - 280

Received: 18 Mar 2014
Accepted: 21 Mar 2014
Published online: 22 Apr 2016 *

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