configurational information as potentially negative entropy the triple helix model构型信息作为潜在的负熵的三重螺旋模型.pdf

Entropy 2008, 12, 391-410; DOI: 10.3390/ OPEN ACCESS entropy ISSN 1099-4300 /entropy Article Configurational Information as Potentially Negative Entropy: The Triple Helix Model Loet Leydesdorff Amsterdam School of Communications Research (ASCoR), University of Amsterdam, Kloveniersburgwal 48, 1012 CX Amsterdam, The Netherlands. E-Mail: loet@; Website: Received: 15 August 2008; in revised form: 24 September 2008 / Accepted: 24 September 2008 / Published: 6 October 2008 Abstract: Configurational information is generated when three or more sources of variance interact. The variations not only disturb each other relationally, but by selecting upon each other, they are also positioned in a configuration. A configuration can be stabilized and/or globalized. Different stabilizations can be considered as second-order variation, and globalization as a second-order selection. The positive manifestations and the negative selections operate upon one another by adding and reducing uncertainty, respectively. Reduction of uncertainty in a configuration can be measured in bits of information. The variables can also be considered as dimensions of the probabilistic entropy in the system(s) under study. The configurational information then provides us with a measure of synergy within a complex system. For