Networking the complexity community since 1999
Author: cxdig
Anne Dambricourt Malassé (ed.)
Shows how the new synthesis integrates scientific models of self-organization
Summarizes modern observations in paleontology and biology
Highlights various examples of self-organization as observed in the human lineage.
More at: link.springer.com
Nathaniel Johnston and Dave Greene
This book provides an introduction to Conway’s Game of Life, the
interesting mathematics behind it, and the methods used to construct
many of its most interesting patterns. Lots of small “building
block”-style patterns (especially in the first four or so chapters of
this book) were found via brute-force or other computer searches, and
the book does not go into the details of how these searches were
implemented. However, from that point on it tries to guide the reader
through the thought processes and ideas that are needed to combine
those patterns into more interesting composite ones.
While the book largely follows the history of the Game of Life, that
is not its primary purpose. Rather, it is a by-product of the fact
that most recently discovered patterns build upon patterns and
techniques that were developed earlier. The goal of this book is to
demystify the Game of Life by breaking down the complex patterns that
have been developed in it into bite-size chunks that can be understood
individually.
More at: conwaylife.com
Artemy Kolchinsky
Entropy 2022, 24(3), 403
We consider the “partial information decomposition” (PID) problem, which aims to decompose the information that a set of source random variables provide about a target random variable into separate redundant, synergistic, union, and unique components. In the first part of this paper, we propose a general framework for constructing a multivariate PID. Our framework is defined in terms of a formal analogy with intersection and union from set theory, along with an ordering relation which specifies when one information source is more informative than another. Our definitions are algebraically and axiomatically motivated, and can be generalized to domains beyond Shannon information theory (such as algorithmic information theory and quantum information theory). In the second part of this paper, we use our general framework to define a PID in terms of the well-known Blackwell order, which has a fundamental operational interpretation. We demonstrate our approach on numerous examples and show that it overcomes many drawbacks associated with previous proposals
Read the full article at: www.mdpi.com
Biosystems
Volume 219, September 2022, 104720
Francis Heylighen, Shima Beigi, Evo Busseniers
We characterize living systems as resilient “chemical organizations”, i.e. self-maintaining networks of reactions that are able to resist a wide range of perturbations. Dissipative structures, such as flames or convection cells, are also self-maintaining, but much less resilient. We try to understand how life could have originated from such self-organized structures, and evolved further, by acquiring various mechanisms to increase resilience. General mechanisms include negative feedback, buffering of resources, and degeneracy (producing the same resources via different pathways). Specific mechanisms use catalysts, such as enzymes, to enable reactions that deal with specific perturbations. This activity can be regulated by “memory” molecules, such as DNA, which selectively produce catalysts when needed. We suggest that major evolutionary transitions take place when living cells of different types or species form a higher-order organization by specializing in different functions and thus minimizing interference between their reactions.
Read the full article at: www.sciencedirect.com
Curiosity as filling, compressing, and reconfiguring knowledge networks
Shubhankar P. Patankar, Dale Zhou, Christopher W. Lynn, Jason Z. Kim, Mathieu Ouellet, Harang Ju, Perry Zurn, David M. Lydon-Staley, Dani S. Bassett
Due to the significant role that curiosity plays in our lives, several theoretical constructs, such as the information gap theory and compression progress theory, have sought to explain how we engage in its practice. According to the former, curiosity is the drive to acquire information that is missing from our understanding of the world. According to the latter, curiosity is the drive to construct an increasingly parsimonious mental model of the world. To complement the densification processes inherent to these theories, we propose the conformational change theory, wherein we posit that curiosity results in mental models with marked conceptual flexibility. We formalize curiosity as the process of building a growing knowledge network to quantitatively investigate information gap theory, compression progress theory, and the conformational change theory of curiosity. In knowledge networks, gaps can be identified as topological cavities, compression progress can be quantified using network compressibility, and flexibility can be measured as the number of conformational degrees of freedom. We leverage data acquired from the online encyclopedia Wikipedia to determine the degree to which each theory explains the growth of knowledge networks built by individuals and by collectives. Our findings lend support to a pluralistic view of curiosity, wherein intrinsically motivated information acquisition fills knowledge gaps and simultaneously leads to increasingly compressible and flexible knowledge networks. Across individuals and collectives, we determine the contexts in which each theoretical account may be explanatory, thereby clarifying their complementary and distinct explanations of curiosity. Our findings offer a novel network theoretical perspective on intrinsically motivated information acquisition that may harmonize with or compel an expansion of the traditional taxonomy of curiosity.
Read the full article at: arxiv.org
