Reference

Glossary

This glossary explains the main terms used throughout the Informational Ontology project. It is written for lay readers, but kept precise enough that you can use it as a reference while reading the main text or exploring the website.

Tip: you don't need to memorise everything here. Treat this page as a map you can return to whenever a term feels unfamiliar.

Core ontology terms

Difference (Δ): The foundational condition for existence: things must differ to exist at all. Without difference, nothing can be distinguished, related, or known.
Relation (R): A structured connection between differences. Relations form patterns (such as order, distance, or connectivity), which are the raw material for information.
Information (I): Structured differences that rule in or rule out possibilities. Information is what patterned difference does when it constrains how things can be.
Awareness (A): A system's ability to use information to regulate itself. This does not have to be human-like or conscious: a thermostat or a bacterium already shows a minimal form of awareness by changing behaviour in response to information.
Value (V): The distinction between better and worse outcomes for a system's continued existence or organisation. Once a system is aware, some states are simply better for it than others. That gradient is what IO calls value.
Meaning (M): Patterns of information and value woven over time into expectations, interpretations, symbols, and internal structure. Meaning is what information becomes when it is organised by value.
Purpose (P): Meaning and value expressed in consistent, directed action over time. A system shows purpose when its behaviour forms trajectories that make sense in light of what matters to it.

Supporting philosophical terms

Axiom: A foundational starting-point statement that is not derived from anything more basic. IO begins from the axiom that to exist is to differ.
Ontology: The philosophical study of existence and the fundamental structure of reality. Informational Ontology is an ontological framework built from difference and information.
Epistemology: The study of knowledge and how systems come to know, model, or justify beliefs about the world. IO connects epistemology to information and awareness.
Teleology: Explanation in terms of purpose, goals, or ends. IO treats purpose as a real structural feature of complex informational systems, rather than something mysterious or supernatural.
Emergence: Complex behaviour or structure that arises from simpler components and rules. IO treats emergence as a natural result of structured difference across scales, not as magic.
Identity persistence: The way something maintains itself as "the same thing" over time despite changes. In IO, identity is tied to patterns of information and organisation, not to unchanging "substances".
Normativity: Any structure that involves "better" or "worse" (ought-like) assessments. IO grounds normativity in value gradients: some outcomes genuinely matter more for a system's continuation.

Systems & cognitive terms

System: Any coherent organisation of interacting parts: an organism, a machine, a process, a social structure, a network of ideas.
Self-regulation: A system adjusting its own behaviour or structure to maintain stability or pursue continuation (for example, keeping temperature, energy, or organisation within certain bounds).
Feedback loop: A situation where a system's outputs also act as inputs, influencing future behaviour. Feedback can stabilise a system or amplify changes.
State: The condition of a system at a given moment: the values of its relevant variables, positions, or configurations.
Signal: Anything that carries information from one place to another, such as light, sound, electrical impulses, or chemical concentrations.
Gradient: A directional difference across space or time (for example, a heat gradient or chemical gradient). Many minimal forms of awareness operate by tracking gradients.
Representation: A stable internal structure within a system that systematically corresponds to some aspect of the world, and can be used to guide behaviour.
Prediction: A system's anticipation of future conditions based on current information and internal models. Predictions help systems prepare for and shape what comes next.

Physics & information-related terms

Possibility space: The set of all states a system could in principle occupy. IO uses this idea to talk about how information constrains what is possible.
Constraint: A rule or limitation that restricts which states are possible. Constraints are what make lawfulness and structure in the world possible.
Entropy: Roughly, a measure of how many different ways a system could be arranged. IO connects entropy to informational structure and value.
Decoherence: In quantum physics, the process by which superposed states lose their ability to interfere due to interactions with the environment. IO interprets this in terms of information stabilisation, not mystical observation.
Collapse: The transition from many possible quantum outcomes to one actual outcome. In IO, this is treated as a physical process of difference and relation, not something caused by human consciousness.
Attractor: A state or set of states that a system tends to move toward during its evolution. Purposeful behaviour often appears as movement toward attractors in a system's state space.
Phase space: A formal space representing all possible states of a system, often used in physics and dynamical systems theory.

Biological analogy terms

Homeostasis: Self-maintaining behaviour that keeps a system within certain ranges (like body temperature or pH). IO uses homeostasis as a natural example of value-guided awareness.
Chemotaxis: Movement of an organism in response to chemical gradients (toward nutrients or away from toxins). An example of simple, embodied awareness and value.
Fitness: In evolutionary theory, how well a system succeeds at surviving and reproducing in a given environment. IO treats fitness as a long-term measure of how value and structure interact.
Signal transduction: The process by which biological cells convert external signals (like chemicals or light) into internal changes. A concrete example of information becoming awareness and action.

Computation & network terms

Bit: The simplest unit of digital difference (0 or 1). IO uses bits as an analogy for minimal difference, not as the literal building blocks of reality.
Logic gate: A basic computational element that takes one or more binary inputs and produces a binary output according to a rule. Used in IO as an analogy for structured transformation of information.
Network: A set of nodes and connections along which information can flow. Examples include neural networks, social networks, or the internet.
Integration: The process of combining multiple signals or pieces of information into a coherent internal state. IO treats rich awareness as highly integrated information.
Policy: In control theory and AI, a policy maps information about the world (or states) to actions. Purposeful systems implement policies shaped by value and meaning.

Site & project terms

Start here: The guided eight-step introduction to the IO chain, written for lay readers. It explains Difference, Relation, Information, Awareness, Value, Meaning, Purpose, and a final summary.
Deep dives: Longer, more technical pages that explore each stage and related concepts in more depth, aimed at readers with philosophical or scientific background.
Simulations: Interactive visual tools that illustrate how simple rules on differences and relations can give rise to structure, awareness, value, and purpose. They are analogies, not proofs.
Ontological chain: The core sequence Δ → R → I → A → V → M → P that defines the Informational Ontology. It appears throughout the site and the Rev4 master text.
Master document: The canonical Revision 4 text of Informational Ontology, maintained offline and mirrored on this site. All conceptual changes must pass through the master first.