Object Discernment by BA Difference Which Makes a Difference^ Jaime F. Cárdenas-García 1 & Diego Romero Castro 2 & Bruno Soria de Mesa 3 Received: 16 September 2017 /Accepted: 18 March 2018 # Springer Science+Business Media B.V., part of Springer Nature 2018 Abstract Gregory Bateson is well known for defining information by stating BIn fact what we mean by information – the elementary unit of information – is a difference which makes a difference…^ This conceptual perspective has the merit of simplicity and generality. Simplicity, in addressing the complexity of information. Generality, in seeking applicability to any and every field of human experience. The purpose of this paper is to focus the applicability of this conceptual approach by Bateson and use it to perform a calculation of taking the difference between two grey-level digital images that are shifted one relative to the other. The digital images take the place of the field of view that a human being would have access through her sense of vision at two different spatial/temporal instances. The results show that it is possible to highlight the edges of the objects under scrutiny, as well as to highlight other differences within the object. Bateson’ s Bdifference that makes a difference^ would seem to provide a first step in the elusive meaning making process of humans. Keywords Gregory Bateson . Difference . Idea . Edge detection . Digital image . Image processing Biosemiotics https://doi.org/10.1007/s12304-018-9315-1 * Jaime F. Cárdenas-García jfcg@umbc.edu Diego Romero Castro diego.romeroc@ug.edu.ec Bruno Soria de Mesa bruno.soria@espoch.edu.ec 1 Department of Mechanical Engineering, University of Maryland – Baltimore County, 1000 Hilltop Circle, Baltimore, MD 21250, USA 2 Facultad de Jurisprudencia y Ciencias Sociales y Políticas, Universidad de Guayaquil, Ciudadela Universitaria Salvador Allende, 090112 Guayaquil, CP, Ecuador 3 Escuela de Medicina, Facultad de Salud Pública, Escuela Superior Politécnica de Chimborazo, Panamericana Sur km 1½, 060155 Riobamba, CP, Ecuador