Defining terms: Data, information and knowledge

In normal conversation, the meanings of data, information and knowledge can often be used interchangeably. At some level of approximation, these three terms are near enough the same. In the domain of computing and in particular the topic known as artificial intelligence, to accept this generalisation is to lose some resolution in a plausible model of the origin of thought. This paper offers an interpretation of these terms that allows us to preserve a model of adaptive behaviour, which is derived using a basis consisting of progressive evolution acting on control-based systems that are matched to and interacting with, a persistent and consistent environment.