Algorithmic information content was defined (Kolmogorov, 1965; Chaitin, 1977) as the amount of information contained in a string of symbols given by the length of the shortest computer program that generates the string. Highly regular, periodic or monotonic strings may be computed by programs that are short and thus contain little information, while random strings require a program that is as long as the string itself, thus resulting in high (maximal) information content. Algorithmic information content (AIC) captures the amount of randomness of symbol strings, but seems ill suited for applications to biological or neural systems and, in addition, has the inconvenient property of being uncomputable. For further discussion see [[algorithmic information theory]]. | Algorithmic information content was defined (Kolmogorov, 1965; Chaitin, 1977) as the amount of information contained in a string of symbols given by the length of the shortest computer program that generates the string. Highly regular, periodic or monotonic strings may be computed by programs that are short and thus contain little information, while random strings require a program that is as long as the string itself, thus resulting in high (maximal) information content. Algorithmic information content (AIC) captures the amount of randomness of symbol strings, but seems ill suited for applications to biological or neural systems and, in addition, has the inconvenient property of being uncomputable. For further discussion see [[algorithmic information theory]]. |