Introduction

It is possible to identify the geohistorical era (cca 650 million years ago) of appearance and some characteristics of the first multicellular living beings which were capable to intelligently interact with their environment. The birth of neuropsychological information have connected to a newly evolved ability to modify activity patterns concerning to the forecasted changes of the relevant realms of the environment.

So, information behavior was possible with only the simultaneous existence of three insular, specialized modules (group of cells), strongly interconnected by the embrionary nervous system.

The first one is dedicated to sensation/representation performance, the second is responsible for the semiosis (constitution of meaning, processing, interpreting, signification, decision making) and the third one controls and directs every intentional locomotion and body move (feedbacking the sensory input).

Without these modules there is no information behavior, and without a coexistence of them there is no full information cycle and there is no Big History (1) of Information. Representation without decision/action or decision/action without sensory input are later developments, the same as the perception of effects from the inner world and the locomotion feedback (proprioception).    

Elementary information cycle

To construct an elementary information cycle for the first ‘informationable’ beings it was enough to have a sense to perceive the difference between at least two relevant environmental occasions, having mental patterns, referring to these occasions, and an alternative set of motion types, acting upon the animal’s actual needs.  

Figure 1. Elementary information cycle.

(see PDF version for the Figure).

The information cycle of more developed animals and animal communities, Pre-Hominids, the Homo Sapiens and our whole contemporary human civilization (with its overlapping information communities and sensational information technology ecosystems) are fundamentally similar to the original, early rudimentary forms, on individual and group level, too. Of course, there are quantitative and qualitative differences in sensory and memory capacity, complexity, the size of usable information asset (stock) and the variety and effectivity of possible (re)actions, but the architecture of information behavior is just the same.

It provides a unique opportunity to define common macropatterns (“laws”) and common conceptual framework of (Big) Information History.

Nine Information History Macropattern

Highlighting the following “starter kit” of few, selected macropatterns and concepts would like to iniciate the future enlargement of these opening lists, providing vocabulary for high abstraction level theoretical research and very concrete historical reconstructions at the same time.

1. Multidimensional growth of representation power (sensory organ types, distance, speediness, size, color, resolution, sharpness, etc.). The result is better understanding and mapping of „surrounding reality” (world model), which allows more successful individual and group adaptation/behavior, broadening the channels of possible adiaphore effects, augmenting the anticipation power, maximizing the effectivity of preventive actions. The axes of continuously growing representability are: size (macro and micro level), distance and time-frame. The stages of extending representation capacity are: sensory evolution, usage of (information) tools, development of (extrasomatic) information technology.
2. The emerging inter-organismic information games are about weakening the representation capacity, decision adequacy and action potential of the ‘others’ for gaining advantage (with colourful and diverse evolutionary technics, developed by preys and predators).
3. Extension of adiaphore time leak (the time between perception of an event with relevance on future conditions and the action made to avoid lethal/unpleasant consequences of this future state). This leak have increased from a nano/picoseconds domain to years, and additionally, in the terms of perceivable space, from nano/picometers to light years. Information was originally developed to maximize individual fitness with conquering the future. Culture – defined as a survival tool by Lotman (2) – makes the same on community level. The adiaphore determination scheme was developed by Lajos Kardos (3).
4. Since the Light is the most effective adiaphore effect, the history of augmenting visual representation became the dominant form of perception, starting with the evolution of eye, following the optical technologies (macro-and microscopes and others). Later, Light also became the most effective way of sign transmission.
5. Cooperation is per se about performing common action. Coordination as an exchange of meanings is a precondition for successful cooperation.
6. The size of sign-interchanging communities and the interconnectivity rate of individuals is raising to a power the number of possible transformations, boosts the information flow, creates space for information innovation, augmenting the overall information asset and action capability of the community. We can observe the same effect every time when individuals’ density is growing locally (from hordes to the urbanization process).
7. There is a constant pressure on information accumulation (memory capacity, length of personal life, intergenerational transfer of meaning, culture, memory expanding technologies).
8. The natural environment (and later: public spaces) are also rich in (meaningful) objects as sources of information. Information architecture simultaneously means the enrichment of the environment with information/content, and the design of exformation (objectivation of information to physical form as sign on a carrier, for future usage).
9. Information metabolism can be multiplicative (when the size of information communities or the information asset of a community with fixed size is starting to grow, or separate information communities are merging), distillative (when the reproduction and flow of information is narrowing or hampered - information procedures can be reversible) and invariable. These moments are coexisting, but their role and proportion determine the adaptive power of a community.

Figure 2. Adiaphoria: Widening Time Leak as Big Information History pattern

(see PDF version for the Figure).

Conclusions

Evolution of information behavior produced more and more complex information cycles and (in the Homo period) complex social environment/culture to multiply the long-time existing and persistent patterns. However, we could identify nine macropatterns, adaptable for not only the human part, but for the whole Big Information History

References and Notes

1. Christian, D. 2011: Maps of Time. An Introduction to Big History University of California Press, First Edition
2. Lotman, Y. M. 1970: Statji po tipologii kulturü Tartu (In Hungarian: Szöveg, modell, típus Gondolat, 1973)
3. Kardos, L. 1984: The origin of Neuropsychological Information Akadémiai Kiadó: Budapest, Hungary

Introduction

I am a contemporary classical music composer interested in developing new technologies to aid musical creativity and harness the role of music in social development. After having worked as a research scientist for Sony for a number of years, I moved to Plymouth University in 2003, where I founded the Interdisciplinary Centre for Computer Music Research (ICCMR) to conduct research into these topics. ICCMR is one of the main contributors to the development of a new discipline, which I refer to as Music Neurotechnology [1]. Research into Music Neurotechnology is truly interdisciplinary: it combines musical research with artificial intelligence, bioengineering, neurosciences and medicine. ICCMR’s research outcomes have been published in learned journals of all these fields; for example [2, 3, 4, 5, 6]. This paper introduces one of ICCMR’s most successful projects to date, which demonstrates the social impact of Music Neurotechnology research: the brain-computer music interfacing (BCMI) project. This project is aimed at the development of assistive music technology to enable people with severe physical disabilities to make music controlled with brain signals. In addition to building the technology, I am particularly interested in developing approaches to compose music with it and creating new kinds of contemporary music.

The BCMI Project

Imagine if you could play a musical instrument with signals detected directly from your brain. Would it be possible to generate music representing brain activity? What would the music of our brains sound like? These are some of the questions addressed by Music Neurotechnology research.

I am interested in developing Brain-Computer Interfacing (BCI) technology for music aimed at special needs and music therapy, in particular for people with severe physical disability. A BCI is generally defined as a system that enables direct communication pathways between the brain and a device to be controlled. Currently, the most viable and practical method of scanning brain signals for BCI purposes is to read the brain’s electroencephalogram, abbreviated as EEG, with electrodes placed on the scalp [7] (Figure 1). The EEG expresses the overall electrical activity of millions of neurones, but it is a difficult signal to handle because it is extremely faint, and it is filtered by the meninges (the membranes that separate the cortex from the skull), the skull and the scalp. This signal needs to be amplified significantly and analyzed in order to be of any use for a BCI. In BCI research, it is often assumed that: (a) there is information in the EEG that corresponds to different cognitive tasks, or at least a function of some sort, (b) this information can be detected and (c) users can be trained to produce EEG with such information voluntarily [8].

Figure 1. A BCI system extracts information from the EEG to control devices. (see PDF version for image)

I have coined the term Brain-Computer Music Interface, or BCMI, to refer to a BCI system for music [8]. My research into BCMI is motivated by the extremely limited opportunities for active participation in music making available for people with severe physical disability, despite advances in music technology. For example, severe brain injury, spinal cord injury and locked-in syndrome result in weak, minimal or no active movement, which therefore prevent the use of gesture-based devices. These patient groups are currently either excluded from music recreation and therapy, or are left to engage in a less active manner through listening only.

My collaborators and I have recently developed a BCMI, which we tested with a locked-in syndrome patient at the Royal Hospital for Neuro-disability in London [6]; her condition was caused by a severe stroke (Figure 1, photograph on the right hand side). Our BCMI is based on a neurological phenomenon known as Steady State Visually Evoked Potentials, abbreviated as SSVEP. These are signals that can be detected in the EEG, which are natural responses to visual stimulation at specific frequencies. For instance, when a person looks at various patterns flashing at different frequencies on a computer screen, this shows up in his or her EEG, and a computer can be programmed to infer which pattern he or she is staring at; for instance, the four patterns shown on the screen on the right hand side photograph, Figure 1. We created musical algorithms to translate EEG signals associated with different flashing frequencies into distinct musical processes. For example, looking at one flashing pattern would sound a certain note, looking at another would produce a certain rhythm, staring at another would change its tempo, and so on. The forthcoming full paper will describe this system in detail and will introduce the composition Activating Memory, which I composed with the technical assistance of Joel Eaton, who is currently in the final stages of his doctoral thesis on BCMI at Plymouth University’s ICCMR.

Activating Memory is an unprecedented piece for a string quartet and a BCMI quartet. Each member of the BCMI quartet is furnished with an SSVEP-based BCMI system that enables him or her to generate a musical score in real-time. Each of them generates a part for the string quartet, which is displayed on a computer screen for the respective string performer to sight-read it on the fly during the performance (Figure 2); a short video documentary is available [9].

Concluding Remarks

The technology and the compositional method developed for Activating Memory illustrate the interdisciplinary nature of Music Neurotechnology research and the benefits that such research can bring to humanity. This is an unprecedented piece of music, which is aimed at being much more than mere entertainment or a commodity for the music industry. Here, eight participants can engage in collaborative music making together, where four of them are not required to move. This forms a suitable creative environment for engaging severely physically disabled patients in music making: they are given an active musical voice to playfully interact between themselves and with the musicians of the string quartet. The first public performance of Activating Memory took place in February 2014 at the Peninsula Arts Contemporary Music Festival, Plymouth [10]. Physically disabled patients were not involved in his first performance. Currently, I am working with colleagues back in the hospital to trial the new technology with patients, with the objective of staging a concert performance of Activating Memory with them. On the research front, my team and I are developing techniques to expand the SSVEP approach. We are developing ways to detect EEG patterns related to emotional states to control algorithms that generate music.

Figure 2. For Activating Memory the parts for each string player are generated from the brains of four participants and displayed on a computer screen for sight-reading during the performance. (see PDF version for image)

References

1. The term ‘Music Neurotechnology’ appeared in print for the first time in 2009 in the editorial of Computer Music Journal, volume 33, number 1, page 1.
2. Anders, T.; Miranda, E.R. (2009). Interfacing Manual and Machine Composition. Contemporary Music Review 2009, 28(2):133-147.
3. Miranda, E.R. Emergent Songs by Social Robots, Journal of Experimental and Theoretical Artificial Intelligence 2008, 20(4):319-334.
4. Daly, I.; Malik, A.; Hwang, F.; Roesch, E.; Weaver, J.; Kirke, A.; Williams, D.; Miranda, E.R.; Nasuto, S.J. Neural Correlates of Emotional Responses to Music: An EEG Study. Neuroscience Letters 2014, 573:2-57.
5. Miranda, E.R.; Adamatzky, A.; Jones, J. Sounds Synthesis with Slime Mould of Physarum Polycephalum. Journal of Bionic Engineering 2011, 8: 107-113.
6. Miranda, E.R.; Magee, W.; Wilson, J.J.; Eaton, J.; Palaniappan, R. Brain-Computer Music Interfacing (BCMI): From Basic Research to the Real World of Special Needs. Music and Medicine 2011, 3(3):134-140.
7. The EEG is a measurement of brainwaves detected using electrodes placed on the scalp. It is measured as the voltage difference between two or more electrodes on the surface of the scalp, one of which is taken as a reference. Other methods for measuring brain activity include MEG (magnetoencephalography), PET (positon emission tomography) and fMRI (functional magnetic resonance imaging), but they are not practical for BCI.
8. Miranda, E. R.; Castet, J. Eds. Guide to Brain-Computer Music Interfacing. Springer: London, United Kingdom, 2014.
9. A short documentary is available here: http://vimeo.com/88151780 (assessed on 30/12/2014).
10. This event was widely reported in the news internationally; for example BBC News: http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/technology-26081451 (assessed on 30/12/2014).
11. Daly, I.; Malik, A.; Hwang, F.; Roesch, E.; Weaver, J.; Kirke, A.; Williams, D.; Miranda, E.R.; Nasuto, S.J. Neural Correlates of Emotional Responses to Music: An EEG Study. Neuroscience Letters 2014, 573: 52-57.

If we want to grasp the essence of information, then we must take its emer­gence into account. [1],[2],[3] This requires an interaction between form (syntax), con­tent (semantics) and effect (pragmatics) of information as three qualitatively different, interdependent process sta­ges of information production and its utili­zation: mapping, interpreting, evaluating.

The emergence of information is a new category in the theory of biology [4] and organization. Cybernetics (1st order), control technology, always presupposed information. Informatics, which developed later, also recognizes the concept of information processing, but until now, the concept of information emergence was not or insufficiently acknowledged.

When we compare technical control with the regulation processes of cell metabolism, a comparison arises between the technical automaton and the living organism. This leads us to a central con­clusion: The living, developing organism is principally distinguished from the technical automaton by the processes of emerging information and formation of values in a process of self organization. [5]

The principle of creativity, of information generation, provides epistemological and methodological guidance. The principle of the generation of information has been of fundamental importance for the building of models and theories at the transition zone of physics, chemistry and biology. These questions about the characteristic features of information are par­ticularly topical in molecular biology, in the neuron sciences, in linguistics, in the para­digm controversy of cognitive science and in AI research, and even in the mod­ern theory of enterprise organization. This clearly shows that information emer­gence and value formation are very important categories for the the­ory development in the boundary between physics/chemistry and biology (to understand the origin of life) and between computers (software) and the human mind, information systems and creative learning social organization. [6]

The notion of complementarity was first presented by Niels Bohr 1927 to harmonize the conflicting views taken by different physicists. Bohr gradually extended the complementarity concept to a much wider domain, and it took on the character of a general theory on the nature of human knowledge, sometimes called the "Copenhagen Spirit”. Many scientists, including Schrodinger and Delbrück, were fascinated by Niels Bohr’s lecture ‘Light and Life’, and conjectured that for the ultimate understanding of life, some novel, fundamental property of matter must first be found, most likely via the discovery of an intuitively paradoxical biological phenomenon.

The development of molecular biology showed that such a paradox does not exist. It should be said, that N. Bohr, in his 1962 lecture: "Light and Life Revisited," acknowledged that meanwhile the success of molecular biology has transcended the instrumental limits on the understanding of life that he had foreseen thirty years earlier. Manfred Eigen [1] clearly said [7] that we do not need a ‘new physics’ but something ‘new in physics’ – that is ‘information’. We have an information theory but not a theory of ‘information generation’.

The role that the concept of information generation plays in the theory of the origin of life as well as in model and theory formation at the boundaries between physics, chemistry and biology, and also between computer science and the humanities [7, [5], [1], [8], [9] has to be investigated still much more.

The epistemological and methodological implications of the concept of creativity, of information generation, can inspire ideas in nearly all areas of human interest. It provides methodological guidance to navigate between the Scylla of crude reductionism: reduction of life to pure physics and chemistry (physicalism) and ‘mind–brain identity’ (neurophilosophy), strong connectionist AI research, and the Charybdis of dualism: of mind-and-matter dualism and hardware-software-dualism, of strong cognitivist AI research.

With the example of the “molecular biologist and the chicken,” we intend to il­lustrate the emergence of the biological information, for to show the basic ideas underlying our evolutionary stages concept of informa­tion. In this respect, we arrived at general affirmation: Information is not a substance; it exists as relation between a sender and a receiver. A special aspect of this relation is the structure of the information carriers, generated by evolution [9],[10],[11] as e.g. DNA-Code. The information phenomenon cannot be reduced to the map­ping or syntactic aspect on any of the different levels of complex systems.

In­deed there is no information concept that can be reduced to one of the process stages: mapping, interpreting, evaluating. It is not possible to reduce the prag­matics of information to semantics, or semantics to syntax. Humans and hu­manity can not be reduced to machines

With the "evolutionary stage concept of information" developed by us, we consider the processes of information emergence and value formation in the processes of the self organization

The realization of a function has a complex structure as prerequisite, which can only be formed on the basis of information, which however in turn, is only created and preserved by this special function. This connection of structure and function is arranged by meanings, which are formed only in this process of interaction. Information therefore arises first, when with the realization of the function, by the effect, an assessment (and with that a selection) has been made, by which the information gets its meaning. It is a circle process - this process has information as prerequisite, which is generated only in this process. This chicken or egg problem dissolves in this complex circle interaction. [7]

Information is indeed on the one hand a condition for the origin of the life and information arises first with the origin of the life

Figure 1.

(see PDF version for the Figure).

We represent the evolution of information, the emergence of the meaning of information, in the interaction of (syntactic) pattern, (semantic) meaning and (pragmatic) evaluation, as an evolution of different (5) levels of organismic/human and social communication processes.

1. Level Macromolecules, 2. Nervous system, 3. Consciousness of environment, 4. Consciousness of society, 5. Consciousness of values.

Figure 2.

(see PDF version for the Figure).

We have to recognize a relatively new form of universal interconnection. Just as quantum physics had to learn that the motion of an electron is only one aspect of the whole, and just as biology had to learn that living organization does not simply consist of parts which can be analyzed and subsequently recomposed, we need to take into account the interconnection of mapping, interpretation and evaluation as specific and interrelated process stages in the generation, use and preservation of information.    

In this paper we specially look at the fifth level. As the level of self-awareness, it can also be described as the consciousness of the values.

If we are concerned with the self-development of the human personality, we proceed from the assumption that human beings live in society and follow the social values which have been formed in the process of social development. Values serve to reduce the complexity of human behavior, of human actions and interests. At the same time, the development of society is also the development of its system of values. With the development of social information and communication, also a development of societal and of self-confidence, of social and individual values takes place.

This signifies that indeed the information proc­essing approach (of cognitionistic and connectionist AI research) provides too narrow an understanding of infor­mation and values. In the case of the “New AI”, the development of relatively autonomous systems like robots, it is necessary to differentiate between pre-rational (intuitive), rational , post-rational (intuitive) and irrational action. Only the objective rational actions are the subject of rationalization and only formalized actions are the subject of automation. Analytic (rule-based) ap­proaches use in novel situations or when problems occur a selection of known possible actions.

The paradox of safety shows; that by increasing the degree of automation we derive more safety and stability but at the same time we create vulnerability of society as a whole, by its increased dependence on such sophisticated technological systems. [12]

The paradox of safety makes clear that informatics has to adopt a different image of man: The concept of complete or super-automation in the sense of a complete reduction (or exclusion) of human participation is misleading. The concept of Man as a faulty living being, as the unsafe element to be replaced is misleading.

Man must not be seen as a disturbing factor which can be more ore less completely replaced by modern information technologies, but rather as the only creative productive force, as the subject of all progress and of all development. “Since information generation is a process that allows novelty to emerge, it goes beyond a mechanical process that can be formalised, expressed by mathematical function, or carried out by a computer.” [3 S. 171]      

The intuition of man represents an essential component for coping with complex tasks. Human intuition extends the possibilities of decision making beyond what would be possible with rational abilities alone.

Differentiation of actions and the value of intuition

Intuition as essential component to master complex tasks. Human intuition extends the possibilities of decision making beyond what would be possible rational (formalized) abilities alone.

Figure 3.

(see PDF version for the Figure).

Also ethical decisions of Man are not only based on (formal) rules, the possibilities of making ethical decisions goes beyond the (formal) rational abilities of the computers - the war robots. This is especially important to respond to alarm or fault conditions in a battle.

The Five-Stage of the Skill-Acquisition Model of Hubert and Stuart Dreyfus has also ethical implications. [13]

Parallelism between the acquisition of skills ( H. Dreyfus, S. Dreyfus [13]) and the levels of performance (J.R. Blau, K. Fuchs-Kittowski [12])

At a low level of complexity, the response is likely to be linear and parallel to the complexity of the situation. As complexity increases, however, the response to alarm or fault conditions become unstable and eventually will become unbounded.

The only way to bound the response is to introduce the post rational criteria into the system design. A differentiation between pre rational, rational, post rational and irrational actions is necessary.

Figure 4.

(see PDF version for the Figure).

We assume with Hubert and Stuart Dreyfus [14] that acting ethically is a skill. We use their phenomenological description of the five stages of skill acquisition to show that an ethics based on principles corresponds to a beginner’s reliance on rules and so is developmentally inferior to an ethics based on expert response that claims that, after long experience, the ethical expert learns to respond appropriately to each unique situation.

Also civilian autonomous vehicles can get into complicated accident situations. They must be programmed to behave so, that as many human life’s as possible are spared. Is this already a moral behaviour? Of course one can programme a war robot that he stops shooting, if a man stands with raised hands in front of him, certainly it is possible to teach an armed drone to stop with bombing,  if  it sees a Red Cross on the roof of a house.  Is this however really moral behaviour, do these systems follow ethical principles? Are they thus really equal to the complex situations in the combat mission? Surely not!

Ethics often exists in terms of a set of rules that are intended to supplement the basic laws of the community. Such rules, like those of professional societies, e.g. the “A.C.M. Code of Ethics And Professional Conduct” are important, but certainly not designed, to help in such serious ethical decisions as Joseph Parnas ore Edward Snowden had to make.

But also if we not follow the phenomenological approach and think, like I. Kant and others, that there is a rational basis of morality and ethics, so that also complicated, deeper ethical decisions are based on rules and principles, one is not able to teach the computer moral behavior, because the basic principles are very general, can only be followed with a deep understanding of the situation. On the basis of the evolutionary stage concept of Information it becomes obviously, that the level of self-awareness or consciousness of the values is a meta-level of information generation and value formation, based on the syntax of syntax, the semantic of semantic and the pragmatics of pragmatics.

Ethical values are rooted in empathy that has "its real depth and width in the deep respect for life," as was pointed out above all by A. Schweitzer, in his Nobel Peace Prize acceptance speech in Oslo,1954 [15].

However, computers are not participants in a social process; they are not personalities whose development is shaped by living a life that involves an interweavement of biological, psychological and social processes.

As can be demonstrated on the basis of the evolutionary stage concept of in­formation, on the stage of self- consciousness, (the “stage of values”), on the level of ethical expertise the ethical decision-making requires post-rational ac­tions which are not the subject of automation, because they include intuition, information generation. Expert (ethical) decisions, no longer rely on rules, guidelines or maxims, they rely on intuitive grasp of situations, based on deep tacit understanding.

Some scientists therefore have an unrealistic claim that they could teach ethics to war robots. It is an idle but wrong attempt! Deeper reflections on the relationship between technology and intelligence, computer (software) and the human mind in its social context show that the process of information generation and value formation is far more complicated. To ensure an interhuman understanding, to be able to generate social mean­ings and meta meanings, to form social values, the robot would require a long period of socialization in the human community.

War robots, armed drones will not have any ethics; they should be banned as soon as possible, to prevent a new senseless arms race!

References

[1] Fuchs-Kittowski, K.; Reflections on the essence of information, Chr. Floyd, H. Züllighoven, R. Budde, R. Keil-Slawik Editors, Software Development and Reality Construction, Springer Verlag, Berlin, New York: 1992. p.p. 416 - 432

[2] Fuchs-Kittowski, K.; Information neither Matter nor Mind – On the Essence and on the Evolutionary Stages Concept of Information, W. Hofkirchner, Editor, The Quest for a Unified Theory of Information, Proceedings of the Second International Conference on the Foundations of Information Science. Vienna University of Technology, 11-15 June 1996, World Future, Gordon and Breach Publishers, Australia, Canada, 1997, Vol. 50. p.p. 551 – 570.

[3] Hofkirchner, W.; Emergent Information – A Unified Theory of Information Framework, World Scientific, New Jersey, London, 2013

[4] Fuchs-Kittowski, K.; Information und Biologie: Informationsentstehung – eine neue Kategorie für eine Theorie der Biologie. – In: Biochemie – ein Katalysator der Biowissenschaften. Kolloquium der Leibniz-Sozietät am 20. November 1997 anlässlich des 85. Geburtstages von Samuel Mitja Rapo­port. Sitzungsberichte der Leibnitz - Sozietät. Berlin, Leibniz-Sozietät, 22 (1998) 3. S. 5- 17

[5] Fuchs-Kittowski, K.; Probleme des Determinismus und der Kybernetik in der molekularen Biologie, VEB Gustav Fischer Verlag, Jena 1976

[6] Fuchs-Kittowski, K.; Heinrich, L. J.: Rolf, A.; Information entsteht in Organisa­tionen: - in kreativen Unternehmen- wissen­schaftstheoretische und methodologische Kon­sequenzen für die Wirt­schaftsinformatik. In: Wirtschaft­sinformatik und Wissenschafts­theorie - Bestand­saufnahme und Per­spektiven, J. Becker, W. König, R. Schütte, O. Wendt, S. Zelewski, Ed., Wiesbaden: Betrieb­swirtschaftlicher Verlag Dr. Th. Gabler GmbH 1999, 329-361

[7] Eigen, M.; Self organization of Matter and the Evolution of Biological Macromolecules’, Naturwis­senschaft en, 58:10 (1971), pp. 465–523.

[8] Kuppers, P.-O.: Der Ursprung biologischer Information, Piper, München 1986

[9] Ebeling, W.; Freund, J.; Schweizer, S.; Entropie – Information – Komplexität, Stuttgart, Leipzig, 1998

[10] Ebeling, W.; Evolution of strings – On the borderline between order and chaos, in: H.-M. Voigt: Evolution and optimization, Serries Mathematical Ecology, Akademie-Verlag, Berlin 1989

[11] Ebeling, W.; Feistel, R.; Selforganisation of Symbols and Information, G. Nicolis, V. Basios, Editors, Chaos, Information Processing and   Paradoxial Games: To the memory of John S. Nicolis World Scientific, 2014, S.141 – 184

[12] Fuchs-Kittowski, K.; System design, design of work and of organization. The paradox of safety, the orgware concept, the necessity for a new culture in information systems and software development, in: P. van den Besselare, A. Clement, P. Jarvinen, Editors, North – Holland, Amsterdam, 1991

[13] Dreyfus, H. L.; What is Moral Maturity? Towards a Phenomenology of Ethical Expertise." In James Ogilvy, ed., Revisioning Philosophy. Albany: State University of New York, 1992.

[14] Dreyfus, H. L.; Dreyfus, S. E.; Mind over Machine – The Power of Human Intuition and Expertise in the Era of the Computer, The Free Press A Devision of Macmillian, Inc. New York, 1968

[15] Schweizer, A.; Das Problem des Friedens in der heutigen Zeit . Rede bei der Entgegennahme des Nobel- Friedenspreises in Oslo am 4. November 1954, Verlag C.H. Beck München 1955

Introduction

The emergence of new communication technologies inevitably raises questions about the extent to which existing media work will change as a result, and this is particularly true in the case of journalism, both for the news production and the news consumption (Deuze & Marjoribanks, 2009; Alqudsi-ghabra, Al-Bannai, T., & Al-Bahrani, 2011; Mitchelstein & Boczkowski, 2010). Different studies have been documented in discussing about whether online news will substitute or displace print newspapers (Ahlers, 2006; Althaus & Tewksbury, 2000; Gentzkow, 2007; Newell, Pilotta, & Thomas, 2008), whether the internet provides a platform through which networked individuals can form a “Fifth Estate” (Dutton, 2009; Baum & Groeling, 2008), and whether the media digitization has affected journalistic norms and practices (Deuze, 2003, 2005; Lewis, Kaufhold, & Lasorsa, 2010). However, most of these studies focused on the analysis either about the online version of existed media (print newspapers or TV) or the role played by social-media platform (i.e. Twitter or Weibo) into the journalistic practices.

Huffington Post, the American online news aggregator, which was the first commercially run digital media enterprise won a Pulitzer Prize in 2012, expanded its business largely since 2011 and opened new branches in main European countries (i.e. U.K., France, Germany, Italy, Spain), Asia (Japan, South Korea), and Latin America (Brazil). Established as a commentary blog in 2005, Huffington Post has grew to become one of the most influential original-produced online news source in a global context nowadays. The Paper (Pengpai Xinwen in Chinese), is a new Chinese online news platform established in July, 2014. Different from the origin of Huffington Post, The Paper is a “new media” project directed by the Shanghai United Media Group (state-owned media), however, it shares the same function as Huffington Post as an original-produced online news source targeted on different levels of digital media market (i.e. Web, APP, Wap, and other social media platform like Weibo and Wechat). Not so many researches have been made yet to investigate case studies of this kind of original-produced “online newspaper”, and even less comparative analyses were conducted to observe the same challenges but different solutions those platforms encounter and manage today across nations—especially under the West-East comparative context. And this paper is thus designed to fill in this gap.      

Methods

Under the theoretic framework of comparative media system studies (Hallin & Macini, 2004; Zhao, 2011) and comparative journalism studies (Rantanen, 2010; Hanitzsch et al, 2011), this paper takes the approach of media political economy to discuss the role played by the state, the market and the audience in Huffington Post and The Paper. Some critical analyses on media content are also equipped for detailed understanding on the news frames (generic news frames and issue-specific frames) used in Huffington Post and The Paper.

Results and Discussion

• The partisan characteristic (Huffington case in Europe) V.S. the role of the state (The Paper in China). The development of Huffington Post in the European case was especially embedded with partisan characteristic from the beginning. Such as the French version of Huffington was in partnership with Le Monde, the German version of Huffington was in partnership with Focus, thus the “Left-wing” orientation of Huffington Post-France and the “Liberal-conservative” orientation of Huffington Post-Germany did impact the news coverage (especially in the French case). The Paper, as a successful experiment of “new media” platform from state-owned media group, has been testing the bottom line of the Communist Party by utilizing its flexibility of providing online-content and its openness from the support of local Shanghai government, however, it still meets limits by receiving pressures from the central government on certain politic news topics.
• The market/users-driven content production (crowdfunding case in Huffington) V.S. the politics/users-driven content production (the liberal orientation on The Paper). In this part the author discussed the crowd-funding case in Huffington to follow the coverage about Michael Brown, to see whether this example could provide original online newspaper an alternative way to follow public-interest with a focus on the “market”; and also discussed the anti-corruption case in Peng Pai to understand its dilemma between Chinese public interests and the Chinese authorities with a focus on the “politics”.  
• Next “New-York times” V.S. next “Nan Fang Zhou Mo”: The construction of news credibility and media accountability are crucial questions for original-produced online newspapers. Huffington Post provided a positive case for this constructive process as it received Pulitzer Prize in the year of 2012 for one of its senior military correspondent, while Peng Pai is still struggling of identifying itself as a successor or an opponent of “South Genre”, which was recognized widely for its liberal orientation that contributes to public democratic debate and the formation of civil society in China.

References and Notes

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Introduction

This paper examines the nature of ‘free labor’ (Terranova, 2004) and its compensation in today’s cognitive capitalism. (Boutang, 2011) Specifically, it tries to show how free labor involves into not only the generation of immaterial goods such as knowledge, information, culture, communication, relationship, and brand but also the production of various categories of material goods including motor cycles, medicines, musical instruments, and so on. In so doing, this paper explores how free labor of networked populations has been increasingly externalizing capital’s management function from production processes and thus reinforcing the ‘becoming rent of capital’. (Vercellone, 2008) In addition, it enquires into the exploitation of free labor in conjunction with the notion of the voluntariness of labor and the immaterial compensation (e.g., reputation or peer recognition) that could be considered as major discursive resources for the reproduction of cognitive capitalism. Furthermore, by examining various strategies coping with the gratuitous dynamics of immaterial products facilitated by contemporary digital networking environments, this article tries to seek for a fair way to compensate for the free cognitive and affective labor.

First, contents-vectoralists of music and film industries employ the legal device of ‘Digital Rights Management (DRM)’ as a way to secure their profits. And thus, they are strengthening rent-seeking economy and constraining various forms of the long-standing cultural practices among populations. Second, ‘Micropayment System’ is often regarded as a market-friendly solution to the gratuitous dynamics of digital labor by contents-vectoralists of journalism and publishing, many platform-vectoralists, and some libertarian consumer groups. Third, the concept of ‘Universal Basic Income’ could be an effective social policy for the proper compensation for free labor in the sense that it extends the logic of social and common nature of production to the sphere of distribution.

Background and Discussion

Even though free labor in digital networks may not necessarily be unavoidable (Andrejevic, 2009), it still remains as an enforced labor in the sense that agreements of users on the terms of use set up by platform providers may be interpreted as a form of socially embedded enforcement. Furthermore, products of free labor are mostly put under a platform-vectoralists’ disposal. Similar to a contract of wage labor, users’ agreement on the terms of use enables platform providers to take a whole control over products of free labor. Indeed, private appropriation of social and common products of unpaid labor became a key object of exploitation in cognitive capitalism. So, here come two main reasons to think about a material compensation for free labor. First, even though much of free labor is not only performed by immaterial motivations such as a pursuit of technical perfection, an acquirement of reputational capital, and the spread of commonism but also compensated in an immaterial manner, it is far from the socio-economic norm of a fair distribution of wealth that platform-vectoralists appropriate the value created by free labor as a form of rent. Second, it is much more necessary to compensate for free labor in a material manner so as to secure the sustainability of cognitive capitalism itself that strives to retain sources of capital accumulation from the creative and innovative free labor among networked populations.

The private appropriation of free labor has long been pursued by contents-vectoralists with an ownership of intellectual property rights and DRM might be deemed to be the most recent technological device for that purpose. DRM is mainly led by contents-vectoralists such as Disney, Warner Brothers, EMI, Microsoft, and Amazon and supported by major manufacturers of electronics including Sony, Samsung, Apple, IBM, Panasonic, and so on. Although contents-vectoralists have been trying to limit networked populations’ free access to ideas and information by introducing DRM, this privatization of digital commons may result in the blocking of creativity and innovation that are vital to the reproduction of cognitive capitalism.

With regard to the notion of ‘Micropayment System’, some argue for charging all information, knowledge, and culture that is shared on the Internet free of charge and Micropayment System often considered as a proper way to compensate monetarily those who contributed to value creation in digital networks. In spite of the past failures of start-ups such as BitPass, FirstVirtual, Cybercoin, Millicent, Digicash, Internet Dollar, and Pay2See, some newspapers actively seek for a building of payment system to each news articles so as to relieve the company’s financial burden. New York Times and Financial Times are currently running ‘Metered Paywalls’ model and many more newspaper capitals are expected to join the track. And ‘Google Wallet’ seems to providing a new momentum for the spread of Micropayment System. Meanwhile, it constitutes another reason for the idea of Micropayment System that many criticize platform-vectoralists such as Google and Facebook for their monopolization of the profits coming from the use of huge user-generated data on the Internet. Several social network services (e.g. Teckler, Pheed, Datacoup) actually run the business model which get back some of their profit to their users as a form of payment for using their personal data. Even some consumer activists refuse the highly common and idealized concept of ‘freedom of information’ and ‘free information’ since it enables, to a great extent, platform-vectoralists with a huge networking power to use and capture users’ value-creating activities free of charge. So, in order to realize information economy in which a new middle-class can emerge, we need, some argue, to renounce the familiar concept of ‘free information’ and to employ a universal Micropayment System. (Lanier, 2013), However, Micropayment System, on the one hand, must disentangle a very complicate matter of ownership of immaterial goods and, on the other hand, inevitably require the establishment of an highly intensive digital surveillance system. Thus, this market-oriented solution for the compensation could not serve as a viable alternative.

Conclusions

Basic Income, as a way for a social and common compensation, may be able to deal with failures of rent-seeking economy developing in the sphere of culture and information beyond the realm of natural resources. It may also play a significant role in the realization and spread of social value of a common cultural inheritance. The concept of Basic Income is often justified in two different ways. First, all economic wealth and value is generated by social cooperation. That is, the creation of wealth should be considered not in terms of the product of individuals’ laboring power but in terms of social bond and cooperation among individuals. Therefore, every individual is deemed to retain the right to acquire wealth from these social and common resources. Second, key elements of production (e.g. tools, technology, and knowledge) belong to a communal cultural tradition and human heritage. So, we are all just cultural inheritors of human community and have to right to receive dividends. These two justifications of Basic Income seem to have a great relevance to today’s cognitive capitalism. Its accumulation regime greatly relies upon the production of immaterial goods such as information, knowledge, and culture and its mode of production increasingly focuses on cooperation among networked populations. Furthermore, given the increasing flexibilization of employment relationships and differentiation between internal and external labor markets, universal Basic Income may play a crucial role in relieving the instability of cognitive capitalism.

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