The Local Information Dynamics of Distributed Computation in Complex Systems

✍ Scribed by Joseph T. Lizier (auth.)

• Publisher: Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
• Year: 2013
• Tongue: English
• Leaves: 248
• Series: Springer Theses
• Edition: 1
• Category: Library

✦ Synopsis

The nature of distributed computation in complex systems has often been described in terms of memory, communication and processing. This thesis presents a complete information-theoretic framework to quantify these operations on information (i.e. information storage, transfer and modification), and in particular their dynamics in space and time. The framework is applied to cellular automata, and delivers important insights into the fundamental nature of distributed computation and the dynamics of complex systems (e.g. that gliders are dominant information transfer agents). Applications to several important network models, including random Boolean networks, suggest that the capability for information storage and coherent transfer are maximised near the critical regime in certain order-chaos phase transitions. Further applications to study and design information structure in the contexts of computational neuroscience and guided self-organisation underline the practical utility of the techniques presented here.

✦ Table of Contents

Front Matter....Pages i-xxiii
Introduction....Pages 1-11
Computation in Complex Systems....Pages 13-52
Information Storage....Pages 53-77
Information Transfer....Pages 79-115
Information Modification....Pages 117-140
Information Dynamics in Networks and Phase Transitions....Pages 141-161
Coherent Information Structure in Complex Computation....Pages 163-175
Information Transfer in Biological and Bio-Inspired Systems....Pages 177-202
Conclusion....Pages 203-211
Back Matter....Pages 213-235

✦ Subjects

Complexity;Coding and Information Theory;Artificial Intelligence (incl. Robotics);Computational Biology/Bioinformatics