[E-Lang] Authority -- what is its dual?

[Jonathan S. Shapiro]

> As I understand it, authority is defined as the ability to influence
> the world.  Sensory capabilities are then regarded as not conveying
> authority.  Information in general is also regarded as not conveying
> authority.

This is incorrect. In the context of information systems, authority means
the ability by a subject to perform one or more operations on an object.
These operations can either change the state or *detect* the state of the
object. The first is what you seem to mean by "influence".

Sensory capabilities are most definitely regarded as conveying authority.
They convey the authority to perform certain read operations.

> (This seems to assume a strong capability system, and ignore synergy
> effects, so that if a chunk of information or a sensory capability is
> used with another capability to unlock some new authority, this
> authority is regarded as being conveyed by this latter capability and
> not by the information or sensory capability.

A better model is to imagine that the an operation on the unlocking
capability has been used to amplify the first authority to produce a third,
new authority.

> A consequence is that a capability to find out the current time
> doesn't carry authority (so `authority to read the clock' is
> oxymoronic).

It certainly does. It conveys not just the ability to determine the time,
but the ability to engage in covert communication more generally with high
precision!


Jonathan