# The Central Dogma of Information
## 2 [PERSON]'s Communication Theory: A Critical Appraisal
That individual must then decode the synthesized syntactic speech and decode/interpret the message based on prior experience and knowledge. This process leads to recognized syntactic information and interpretation as semantic or meaningful information for the recipient. The same message might have different meanings to different individuals. Figure 1: The communication process (adapted from [27]). In this process we also seem to suffer from fetishism, or an attribution of inherent value, or powers, to the messages that we code and decode. We seem to have the power to effortlessly speak into a communication system and then listen to a response and effortlessly decode what we hear. The postulate that information is a fundamental quantity of the Universe in addition to matter/energy [12; 30; 31; 32] appears to be true since the information in coding and decoding messages is effortless and readily accessible. In the case of the communication system devised by [PERSON], no explanation needs to be given as to why we might be able to code a message at the left end of Figure 1, and then understand the decoded message that we become privy to after receiving it at the right end of Figure 1. The differences that we learn to encode and later discover with our sensory organs as information or as 'differences which makes a difference,' mean something to us. In this learning process, living beings inform matter/energy and vice versa. In-forming matter/energy interactively and recursively takes place in several ways: by actual manipulation of matter/energy to consume it as nonwithstanding; to create speech sounds; to create all the objects that are part of the artificial world that we conceive and surrounds us; and to have the ability to communicate either by our own resources or technological developments. Shannon/syntactic information is synonymous with artificial creation of analogue and digital ordered physical structure as exemplified above, even when climate change is a concern. Only living beings can give meaning to their sensory experiences and to express them as syntactic constructions. However, machines created by humans can generate syntactic information, without the need for meaning-making, in response to the design constraints imposed by their designers. Currently, information is produced and consumed by humans and by machines designed and built by humans. Humans produce and use Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) such as wireless radios, cybernetic control mechanisms, encryption machines, cell phones, digital televisions, satellite communications, the internet, social media, etc. Messages are composed by humans/machines, coded, optimally transmitted as communication signals, and received, denoised, decoded and interpreted by humans/machines. This is the basis for the information age with humans at its center. We are no longer constrained to the use of only our primary senses to engage with nature but are fully capable of expanding our sensory range by artificial creations. It is commonplace to use satellites to predict the weather; video cameras for surveillance in our cities; infrared, and ultraviolet sensors to keep track of food production; Magnetic Resonance Imaging to look inside our bodies; satellites to assess vast expanses of space and time, to become interstellar travelers. All these technological wonders act to expand our sensorial capabilities beyond what our five primary senses allow. Summarizing, Figure 1 illustrates the communication process that takes place between two humans. The one on the left-end can externalize Shannon/syntactic information after an internal semantic/syntactic process to communicate with the one on the right-end. The human being on the right-end internalizes the received Shannon/syntactic information to produce her own semantic interpretation. This process of self-production and self-interpretation of information is what needs to be unveiled and appreciated.