[dr_dshiv]

Not sure what you mean by “invented term.”

in any case, there seems to be a difference in describing a system with symbols and computational systems that use symbols for information processing. Some information processing seems possible in systems that don’t use symbols.

[ohnoNotAgain321]

Any computational system uses symbols, whether or not a person has analysed the system and defined those symbols; information is symbols.

[dr_dshiv]

You are suggesting that information was not existing before symbols?

[arketyp]

Where and when information exists so do symbols, in the abstract sense. It’s not symbols as representation of meaning but symbols as mediating meaning.

[dr_dshiv]

That’s a strong claim that is not common. Humans are generally considered to be the only animals capable of symbolic thought [1]. Information flows in far simpler systems than symbolic systems.

[1] https://www.nytimes.com/2014/12/07/magazine/hunting-for-the-...