Axioms
Heuristic extraction of premises/claims from the corpus.
- The two basic premises of this political philosophy — Two basic premises underlie this political philosophy of information: (a) states are information platforms for their citizens, and (b) (only) humans need to augment their information processing.
Source: §00.02.02 - Axiom candidate — Life is information processing; to be living is to be processing information.
Source: §01.00.01.01 - Axiom candidate — Information is either material or immaterial.
Source: §01.00.01.03 - Life, birth, death — Because life is information processing, any and all Beings that can process information are alive (see [[§03.00.02]]).
Source: §01.00.09 - Information in the analogue world is finite, but infinite in the digital world — In the analogue world the scarcity or uniqueness of the resources found in Nature is the drive behind human culture and history.
Source: §01.00.16 - Total control is impossible in the analogue world, but possible in the digital one — Total control is impossible in the analogue world.
Source: §01.00.17 - Axiom candidate — Total control is impossible in the analogue world because the analogue world (Nature) was discovered by humans, it was not made by them.
Source: §01.00.17.01 - Information is either material or immaterial — Information is either material, meaning processable by Beings in the analogue or the digital world i.e.
Source: §01.01.01 - Finite and infinite information — Immaterial information is infinite (thoughts, feelings and wishes know no end), but while in the analogue world material information is finite (because the analogue world is finite), in the digital world it is [[§01.00.15|infinite]].
Source: §01.01.02 - Creation of information — All immaterial information is created (thought, felt) by humans and animals, that is, by biological Beings (human creativity, as we know it, is the result of a purely human need to augment information processing, see [[§05.01.06]], and [[§05.01.11 ]]).
Source: §01.01.03 - The digitisation of (already) dematerialised information — The digitisation of already dematerialised information is, in effect, its re-materialisation in a different format.
Source: §01.01.15 - Digital information is infinite — Paragraphs [[§01.01.13]], [[§01.01.14]] and [[§01.01.15]] have explained why information in the digital world is infinite (see [[§01.00.16]].
Source: §01.01.16 - Axiom candidate — A subcategory of digital-born information is digital world–only information.
Source: §01.01.17.01 - Beings can and will process information — Beings can and will process information on other Beings or on Things, [[§05.00.02|because they have needs]].
Source: §02.00.01 - Life is information processing — Based on biology, we can distinguish between biological and non-biological Beings.
Source: §02.00.02 - A distinctive characteristic of humans and states — Although humans and states are Beings as per their kind (animals and organisations respectively), there is a basic difference, a distinctive characteristic that differentiates each of them from their kind (explained in [[§02.00.05]] and [[§02.00.10]], respectively).
Source: §02.00.04 - Humans need to augment their information processing — Unlike all other animals, humans need to [[§05.01.00|augment their information processing]].
Source: §02.00.05 - The processing of information leads to the creation of new information — The creation of new information is achieved through the act of processing existing information (see also [[§01.00.07]]).
Source: §04.00.02 - Neither humans nor states are aggressive by nature — A misunderstanding has occurred concerning human nature (and, in turn, the nature of states).
Source: §04.00.11 - The processing of information is not a given nor is it static — The processing of information is not a given nor is it static, rather it can be enhanced by tools (artefacts as well as [[§02.00.12|artificial Beings]]) that further enhance it, in an (apparently never-ending) virtuous circle (see also [[§05.01.03]]).
Source: §04.00.13 - The processing of information is the result of need and opportunity — The processing of information, in either the analogue or the digital world, is the result of need and opportunity.
Source: §05.00.01 - Axiom candidate — In essence, the processing of information is caused by need and is allowed by opportunity.
Source: §05.00.01.01 - The need to survive; the conditions for existence — The will to process information is not caused exclusively by the need to survive.
Source: §05.00.03 - Humans need to augment their information processing — Humans need to augment their information processing.
Source: §05.01.01 - Only humans need to augment their information processing — All Beings increase their information processing simply through the fact of their existence, with every passing moment that they (continue to) live in the analogue and/or digital worlds.
Source: §05.01.03 - Creativity — The augmentation of information processing leads to creativity (see also [[§01.01.03]] and [[§25.00.05]]); creativity is connected with freedom, because imagination is common to both).
Source: §05.01.06 - Humans need to augment their information processing individually — It is important to note that humans do not need to augment their information processing cumulatively, but individually.
Source: §05.01.07 - Axiom candidate — Humans need to augment their information processing; augmentation, however, is always subjective and relative.
Source: §05.01.09.01 - Axiom candidate — It is comparison, therefore, that is innate to humans, precisely because humans need to augment their information processing and such augmentation is always individually assessed and relative to the processing of others.
Source: §05.01.09.02 - Whether humans are by their nature brutal or nasty or untrusting is beside the point in practical terms — With the above in mind, whether humans are by their nature brutal or nasty or untrusting is beside the point in practical terms: although humans need to augment their information processing and will do so in any way they can, what information processing they can and cannot do in any given moment (i.e.
Source: §05.01.10 - Why only humans need to augment their information processing? — note 5.1/3/1
Source: §05.01.11 - Total control is impossible — Control is relevant to a processing (a processing operation that takes place [[§06.00.04|results in control]]), not to a dataset.
Source: §06.00.02 - Axiom candidate — Although total control is impossible, Beings strive towards it; they strive to control all processing possible by and on a Thing or another Being, to become sovereign (see [[§16.00.05]] and [[§24.00.07]]) over them (in the same way as a Being strives to execute an already started processing operation, see [[§23.00.04]] on why should we keep promises).
Source: §06.00.02.02 - Control over new or first-processed information — Because [[§01.00.07|the processing of already existing information leads to the creation of new information]], whenever the Being with control permits another Being to process information on a dataset, new information is created as a result.
Source: §06.00.04 - Axiom candidate — Again, in the same way that [[§06.00.02|total control is impossible]], construction of a complete list of all controls over a dataset is similarly impossible (as is total awareness of such list’s true extent to Beings, even with regard to themselves as a dataset).
Source: §06.00.05.02 - State definition - States are information platforms for their citizens —
Source: §07.00.00 - States are information platforms for their citizens — States are information platforms for their citizens.
Source: §07.00.01 - Axiom candidate — States are [[§02.00.09|Beings that can and will process information]]; they are [[§09.00.00|organisations that have materialised in the analogue world]].
Source: §07.00.01.01 - Axiom candidate — Regardless of any other context or role (artificially) ascribed to them throughout human recorded and unrecorded history, states are, and always have been, first and foremost information platforms for their citizens.
Source: §07.00.01.03 - In what sense are states information platforms for their citizens — States are information platforms for their citizens in the sense that it is (only) on their platform (on the choice and use of the term see [[§07.01.00]]) that the processing of information [[§07.00.06|on]] and [[§07.00.07|by]] their citizens is made possible.
Source: §07.00.02 - States are Beings — States are Beings, they will process information because they can.
Source: §07.00.09 - Axiom candidate — In essence, states are informational individualisation infrastructures that turn humans into individuals (through a name and a citizenship, see [[§07.00.04]]), the only universal and natural human individualisation mechanism.
Source: §08.00.01.01 - States remain necessary for humans’ (meaningful) existence throughout their lives — States are therefore the first organisation humans are acquainted with immediately at birth (together with their family, see [[§02.00.09]]).
Source: §08.00.04 - Modern states are the result of changes in the information processing capabilities of humanity — Modern states, meaning the states in which most of us live (i.e.
Source: §11.00.05 - Some merit in examining a bit more closely other state justification theories — Because it is argued that states are natural to humans, no further justification for states is necessary: states were formed [[§08.00.01|naturally, automatically and immediately at the moment when two humans gained self-consciousness and started to communicate with each other using language]].
Source: §13.00.01 - Against social contract theory — Social contract theory is unsatisfactory simply because, assuming an agreement or a contract is in place (an idea that is not-so-easy to digest for many humans), if states are artificial constructions of humans, then one is obliged to examine their merits.
Source: §13.00.03 - Utilitarianism — Utilitarian philosophers (Bentham, Mill, and, to a certain extent, Hume), perhaps trying to refute the social contract theory of their (immediate) predecessors (Hobbes and Locke), suggested that states are natural to humans on account of a habit of obedience.
Source: §13.00.06 - State malaise — The above unsatisfactory theories to justify the existence of something as basic and evident in human lives as the state are responsible for a certain malaise that has been felt by humans vis-à-vis their states for the past 2500 years.
Source: §13.00.10 - Does legitimacy give rise to platform rights? — If the state carries out these three information processing operations (creation, storage and dissemination) as the natural result of personal information creation for its citizens (see [[§14.00.10]]), and states are, themselves, [[§08.00.00|natural to humans]], do these three types of processing give rise to any [[§22.00.05|platform rights]]?
In essence, they do—to the platform rights of equality, liberty and security (see [[§22.00.06]] to [[§22.00.09]]).
Source: §14.00.12 - States are temporal — No state has endured the test of time.
Source: §15.00.01 - Never a void — What is important to note, however, is that because states are natural to humans, immediately when one ceases to exist another replaces it.
Source: §15.00.03 - State succession — If this is how states die, and if succession is automatic because states are natural to humans, what exactly is it that is succeeded, or created anew each time?
The deed of succession, if any, is usually a technical legal document of procedural importance.
Source: §15.00.06 - Sovereignty is for the government an unreachable and unattainable aim — However, we have seen that [[§06.00.02|total control is impossible]].
Source: §16.00.06 - Moving around in the analogue world — Nevertheless, states are not and have never been insulated, entirely and completely isolated from other states, no matter where or when they have existed on the planet.
Source: §17.00.05 - Axiom candidate — Interoperability warrants that information is exchanged and used by Beings on two different information platforms.
Source: §17.00.15.01 - Nation — Because states are natural to humans, nations play only a peripheral, temporary role in their development.
Source: §18.00.01 - Axiom candidate — In human development terms, states are still living in a ‘state of nature’, where life is precarious and recognition by others, if any, is bilateral and conditional.
Source: §19.00.01.01 - States are still in the ‘state of nature’ — It is in what we can imagine as far-distant, prehistoric times in terms of human development that states are found today.
Source: §19.00.02 - In spite of the UN and the system of international law, states are still effectively in a ‘state of nature’ — If, however, one were to remove the grand and impressive veil of the UN and the system of international law, one would quickly realise that states are still effectively in a ‘state of nature’.
Source: §19.00.05 - The stage of development of states today — Thus states are self-conscious, but without any individualisation mechanism in space and time, and without any substantially developed language to communicate: this is their stage of development today.
Source: §19.00.07 - Why have states stayed in a ‘state of nature’ for so long? — Essentially, states are like humans; they are, whether they like it or not, social (indeed, political) Beings (and thus there cannot be only one, see [[§19.00.10]]).
Source: §19.00.09 - Are archipelagos natural? — As it has been claimed that states are natural to humans, should archipelagos be considered natural (to states) as well? States formed naturally, so as to individualise humans, to uniquely identify them in space and time.
Source: §19.00.17 - Rights which apply to all citizens indiscriminately on the information platform that is their state are human rights — Rights (permissions to process, see [[§21.00.00]]) which apply to all citizens indiscriminately on the information platform that is their state are human rights.
Source: §22.00.01 - Platform rights — Notwithstanding that their acknowledgement in regulation in any given state is a matter of politics, are there any human rights that are inherent on the information platform that is the state, simply by means of its existence?
In other words, does the finding that states are information platforms for their citizens (in essence, individualisation mechanisms for humans) lead to the [[§01.00.18|logical]] inference of any human rights?
If yes, then these (human) rights could be named platform rights, because it is to information platforms that they owe their existence and it is throughout the information platform that is the state (essentially, in any and all states, today and throughout human history) that they would (‘should’ effectively belonging to political theory, see [[§00.02.10]]) apply.
Source: §22.00.05 - Axiom candidate — All humans are thus born at liberty from other humans and not from their states, because it is their state that turned them into individuals, given that states are natural to humans (see [[§25.00.01]]).
Source: §22.00.08.01 - Platform rights apply only to humans — Platform rights apply only to humans, because states are natural only to them (and not to animals or organisations—or to artificial Beings, at least for the moment, see also [[§21.00.01]]).
Source: §22.00.13 - Axiom candidate — Because [[§06.00.02|total control is impossible]], property is control over specific processing operations out of the many possible on a dataset.
Source: §24.00.01.01 - Axiom candidate — Property is only one among many attributes of a dataset; it is always relevant to specific processing operations, but it is never absolute, in the same way that [[§06.00.02|total control is impossible]].
Source: §24.00.02.01 - Axiom candidate — Throughout practically all of human history the right to property has been acknowledged within states (regardless of how many of their citizens this applied to) to such an extent that states are frequently depicted as effectively protecting property.
Source: §24.00.06.01 - Appropriation — [[§06.00.04|As has been seen]], the mechanism of establishing property is simple: any time that control over a dataset is allowed by one Being to another, and processing takes place, new information is created.
Source: §24.00.08 - A human need to be free? — Notwithstanding its relativity and the impossibility of attaining it, humans (nominally at least) have striven for freedom throughout their history—they want to be free.
Source: §25.00.04 - States are the only Beings that are truly free today — In essence, therefore, states are the only Beings that are truly free today, in the sense that no other Being exercises control over their information processing.
Source: §25.00.07