Jeroen Smits

This paper develops an integrated view of information and meaning based on two central ideas: information is shape and meaning is fit. By shape I mean organized relational structure that can enter into interaction and, by fitting or failing to fit, reduce the range of what can happen next. Meaning is the success of such fitting in a specific context: how a pattern becomes usable when it couples to other patterns and guides action, prediction, coordination, or further change. Because no two situations are exactly the same, fit requires tolerance. To connect effectively, shapes only need to be similar enough. This means that fit can be better or worse, so meaning comes in degrees and can shift over time. In this view, what exists is never simply raw: every stable form carries forward the structure left by earlier interactions. Information remains preserved as long as the structures that carry it stay similar enough to be recognized and reused. Genes, brains, and books are different media in which the same broad phenomenon occurs: history taking form. And although meaning becomes especially rich in living agents and observers, the same logic applies to non-living cases, such as a mountain slope that channels water or a key that fits a lock.