--- title: "Meaning & Key Takeaway of: In order to understand information, we…" description: "\"In order to understand information, we must define it; bit in order to define it, we must first understand it. Where to start?\" — Hans Christian von Ba..." image: "https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ad7/hans-christian-von-baeyer-2413_bits_in-order-to-understand-information-we-mu_839295.jpg" --- # In order to understand information, we must define it; bit… ![“In order to understand information, we must define it; bit in order to define it, we must first understand it. Where to start?” quote by Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ad7/hans-christian-von-baeyer-2413_bits_in-order-to-understand-information-we-mu_839295.jpg) [Download](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ad7/hans-christian-von-baeyer-2413_bits_in-order-to-understand-information-we-mu_839295.jpg) [Open image](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/i/ad7/hans-christian-von-baeyer-2413_bits_in-order-to-understand-information-we-mu_839295.jpg) > “In order to understand information, we must define it; bit in order to define it, we must first understand it. Where to start?” [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) ## About This Quote This interpretation was drafted with AI assistance. It is one reading of the quote, not the author's own explanation. Understanding information requires defining it, yet definition needs prior understanding. **In simple terms:** Defining info is circular without prior grasp. Key Takeaway Study basics before formal definitions. Themes knowledge definition philosophy of science Mood analytical inquisitive Type educational philosophical When to use this quote - academic research - education - data analysis Key Concepts epistemology information theory Questions to Reflect On - What foundational concepts precede information? - How can you break the definition loop? A Different Perspective Circular definitions can stall progress. ★ ★ ★ ★ ★ No ratings yet [Data](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/data/) [Learning](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/learning/) [Order](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/about/order/) ## Related quotes > [An atom is a hierarchy of different states of information that define the statistical likelihood of finding a particle here or there at the…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/deepak-chopra/an-atom-is-a-hierarchy-of-different-states-of-information-that-define/) [Deepak Chopra](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/deepak-chopra/) > [You only understand information relative to what you already understand.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/richard-saul-wurman/you-only-understand-information-relative-to-what-you-already/) [Richard Saul Wurman](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/richard-saul-wurman/) > [It's very hard to predict what kind of uses we'd make of assistants that could read and understand all the information the human race…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/stuart-j-russell/it-s-very-hard-to-predict-what-kind-of-uses-we-d-make-of-assistants/) [Stuart J. 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You cannot tell me we can't do a better job getting that information.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hillary-clinton/we-re-living-in-a-technological-world-you-cannot-tell-me-we-can-t-do/) [Hillary Clinton](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hillary-clinton/) > [ \[Brazil\] went to the UN and said, "We need new standards for this." We need to take a look at what they're calling "data… ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/edward-snowden/brazil-went-to-the-un-and-said-we-need-new-standards-for-this-we-need/) [Edward Snowden](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/edward-snowden/) > [Finding patterns is easy in any kind of data-rich environment; that's what mediocre gamblers do. 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It allows you to predict that if you step off a cliff…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/clayton-christensen/but-actually-theory-is-very-practical-gravity-is-a-theory-for-example/) [Clayton Christensen](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/clayton-christensen/) > [Sometimes I am a collector of data, and only a collector, and am likely to be gross and miserly, piling up notes, pleased with…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/charles-fort/sometimes-i-am-a-collector-of-data-and-only-a-collector-and-am-likely/) [Charles Fort](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/charles-fort/) > [The information nation took their clues from all the sound bite gluttons.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/rem/the-information-nation-took-their-clues-from-all-the-sound-bite/) [REM](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/rem/) > [“ data analytics consulting Perceptive Analtyics is a data analytic company and a trusted advisor to its clients across domains. Click to know more”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/sebastianmax/data-analytics-consulting-perceptive-analtyics-is-a-data-analytic/) SebastianMax > [Information is money, but data is squat](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/angela-llama-butler/information-is-money-but-data-is-squat/) Angela Llama-Butler ## More by Hans Christian von Baeyer > [Claude Shannon, the founder of information theory, invented a way to measure 'the amount of information' in a message without defining the word 'information'…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/claude-shannon-the-founder-of-information-theory-invented-a-way-to/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [We don't know what energy is, any more than we know what information is, but as a now robust scientific concept we can describe…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/we-don-t-know-what-energy-is-any-more-than-we-know-what-information/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [An electron is real; a probability is not.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/an-electron-is-real-a-probability-is-not/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [To put it one way, a collection of Shakespeare's plays is richer than a phone book that uses the same number of letters; to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/to-put-it-one-way-a-collection-of-shakespeare-s-plays-is-richer-than/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [Information gently but relentlessly drizzles down on us in an invisible, impalpable electric rain.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/information-gently-but-relentlessly-drizzles-down-on-us-in-an/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [Underneath the shifting appearances of the world as perceived by our unreliable senses, is there, or is there not, a bedrock of objective reality?](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/underneath-the-shifting-appearances-of-the-world-as-perceived-by-our/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [In fact, an information theory that leaves out the issue of noise turns out to have no content.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/in-fact-an-information-theory-that-leaves-out-the-issue-of-noise/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [Numbers instill a feeling for the lie of the land, and furnish grist for the mathematical mill that is the physicist's principal tool.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/numbers-instill-a-feeling-for-the-lie-of-the-land-and-furnish-grist/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [If the intensity of the material world is plotted along the horizontal axis, and the response of the human mind is on the vertical,…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/if-the-intensity-of-the-material-world-is-plotted-along-the/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [This is not what I thought physics was about when I started out: I learned that the idea is to explain nature in terms…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/this-is-not-what-i-thought-physics-was-about-when-i-started-out-i/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [The problem of defining exactly what is meant by the signal velocity, which cropped up as long ago as 1907, has not been solved.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/the-problem-of-defining-exactly-what-is-meant-by-the-signal-velocity/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [Both induction and deduction, reasoning from the particular and the general, and back again from the universal to the specific, form the essence to…](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/both-induction-and-deduction-reasoning-from-the-particular-and-the/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [“Science has taught us that what we see and touch is not what is really there.”](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/science-has-taught-us-that-what-we-see-and-touch-is-not-what-is/) [Hans Christian Von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [If quantum communication and quantum computation are to flourish, a new information theory will have to be developed.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/if-quantum-communication-and-quantum-computation-are-to-flourish-a/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) > [The smell of subjectivity clings to the mechanical definition of complexity as stubbornly as it sticks to the definition of information.](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/hans-christian-von-baeyer/the-smell-of-subjectivity-clings-to-the-mechanical-definition-of/) [Hans Christian von Baeyer](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) [Explore all 25 Hans Christian von Baeyer quotes ](https://sms4smile.com/quotes/author/hans-christian-von-baeyer/) ## More Bits quotes > [ Brad \[Dourif\] would tell himself that he was not intentionally trying to mimic Jack Nicholson in any way. 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