Epistemology of Noise

Cecile Malaspina is a visiting lecturer at the Royal College of Art, UK. She is the translator of G. Simondon’s On the Mode of Existence of Technical Objects, (forthcoming), and, together with Michael Zimmermann, of E. Morin’s Methode II (forthcoming).

• Foreword by Ray BrassierAcknowledgementsNote on TextList of AbbreviationsIntroductionPart 1 Concepts: Information Entropy, Negentropy, NoiseI How to Draw the Line between Information and NoiseII Entropy as ‘Freedom of Choice’III Information Entropy and Physical EntropyIV The Idea of ‘Potential Information’V Physical Concepts of Information and Informational Concepts of PhysicsVI Information as Process Rather Than ContentVII To Think about Information as a Process of IndividuationVIII Redundancy and NecessityIX Logic and Freedom of ChoiceX Noise as Spurious UncertaintyXI NegentropyXII Complexity on the Basis of NoiseXIII The Astigmatism of IntuitionXIV The Path of DespairPart 2 Empirical NoiseI On the Transduction of the Concept of NoiseII Accidental Information, Predictable Noise III Ready-Made InformationIV Cosmic Background Radiation V Noise in the Gap between NarrativesVI Noise in FinanceVII Statistics: The Discipline of the PrinceVIII The Man without Qualities IX Noise Abatement: The Dawn of Noise X Noise Pollution XI Toxic, Viral, Parasitic Part 3 The ‘Mental State of Noise’ I The Crossroads: Mathematical, Technical, Empirical and Subjective NoiseII Internal Chaos, Terror and Confusion III The Vicious Whir of SensationsIV Keat’s Negative CapabilityV Closure to Noise and the Paradox of the Declining LifeVI The Catastophic Reaction to Noise VII Anxiety VIII Order IX Control X The Helmsman Metaphor: Kybernetes XI The Helmsman in Plato’s Alcibiades DialogueBibliography Index

This is one of the freshest intellectual works I have read in recent years. If you did not previously recognize the philosophical significance of Claude Shannon, Warren Weaver, and Norbert Wiener, you will after reading this book. Shannon’s paradoxical claim that information and noise are both forms of entropy is revived by Malaspina and developed with ideas drawn from Gilbert Simondon and Nicholas of Cusa. The result is a challenging and compelling experience for the reader, who will want to study this book multiple times.