4 research outputs found
Hierarchical coordinate systems for understanding complexity and its evolution with applications to genetic regulatory networks
Original article can be found at : http://www.mitpressjournals.org/ Copyright MIT PressBeyond complexity measures, sometimes it is worth in addition investigating how complexity changes structurally, especially in artificial systems where we have complete knowledge about the evolutionary process. Hierarchical decomposition is a useful way of assessing structural complexity changes of organisms modeled as automata, and we show how recently developed computational tools can be used for this purpose, by computing holonomy decompositions and holonomy complexity. To gain insight into the evolution of complexity, we investigate the smoothness of the landscape structure of complexity under minimal transitions. As a proof of concept, we illustrate how the hierarchical complexity analysis reveals symmetries and irreversible structure in biological networks by applying the methods to the lac operon mechanism in the genetic regulatory network of Escherichia coli.Peer reviewe
Integrated Information Theory and Isomorphic Feed-Forward Philosophical Zombies
Any theory amenable to scientific inquiry must have testable consequences.
This minimal criterion is uniquely challenging for the study of consciousness,
as we do not know if it is possible to confirm via observation from the outside
whether or not a physical system knows what it feels like to have an inside - a
challenge referred to as the "hard problem" of consciousness. To arrive at a
theory of consciousness, the hard problem has motivated the development of
phenomenological approaches that adopt assumptions of what properties
consciousness has based on first-hand experience and, from these, derive the
physical processes that give rise to these properties. A leading theory
adopting this approach is Integrated Information Theory (IIT), which assumes
our subjective experience is a "unified whole", subsequently yielding a
requirement for physical feedback as a necessary condition for consciousness.
Here, we develop a mathematical framework to assess the validity of this
assumption by testing it in the context of isomorphic physical systems with and
without feedback. The isomorphism allows us to isolate changes in
without affecting the size or functionality of the original system. Indeed, we
show that the only mathematical difference between a "conscious" system with
and an isomorphic "philosophical zombies" with is a
permutation of the binary labels used to internally represent functional
states. This implies is sensitive to functionally arbitrary aspects of a
particular labeling scheme, with no clear justification in terms of
phenomenological differences. In light of this, we argue any quantitative
theory of consciousness, including IIT, should be invariant under isomorphisms
if it is to avoid the existence of isomorphic philosophical zombies and the
epistemological problems they pose.Comment: 13 page