Our next IPI Talk will be on Saturday, 4th of July at 17:00 London time zone.
Title: Second law of info-dynamics and the language diversity decline
Abstract: The recently
formulated second law of infodynamics manifests itself in multiple physical
systems, indicating the fundamental nature of this law. In some cases, the
second law of infodynamics can be interpreted in terms of minimum energy
principle, while in other cases the mechanisms that lead to a decrease in
information entropy are practically impossible to understand. We propose a new
metaphysical principle, termed "the majority swallows the minority"
and explain why the Shannon's informational entropy decreases due to this
principle. As an example of the this principle application, the well-known
phenomenon of the decline in linguistic diversity is considered; u
nlike other
phenomena, the mechanisms associated with the decline and extinction of human
languages are well understood. This allows us to develop a simple
mathematical model which reflects the aforementioned principle ("the
majority swallows the minority”). Our numerical simulations are consistent with
data showing the dynamics of decline in global Indigenous Linguistic Diversity
(ILD) in America and Africa, for the time segment 1975 to 2005. We emphasize
once again that this principle has an ontological nature and can be applied to
other physical systems, even if their physical behavior is not yet fully
understood. In addition to mathematical analysis, the proposed principle is
also considered from a philosophical point of view. Quality (representing the
informational entropy) versus quantity (equivalent to the classical thermal
entropy) will be discussed in the lecture from the perspective of the René
Guénon's philosophy.
Speaker: Yuri Kadin
Bio: Yuri graduated in 2004 with a Bachelor of Science (BSc) from the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technion (Israel Institute of Technology) with honors (Summa Cum Laude). During the undergraduate studies, he specialized in micromechanics and biomechanics. From 2004 to 2008, he undertook studies towards PhD (at the Faculty of Mechanical Engineering at the Technion) in the fields of contact mechanics, plasticity, rough surface analysis, tribology, and adhesion. Since 2009, Yuri has been working at the SKF Research Center in Netherlands, in the areas of fatigue modeling, computational fracture mechanics and contact mechanics, viscoelasticity and creep, hydrogen diffusion/embrittlement of steels, polymer and composite modeling, and several other topics related to computational materials science.
