What Does ‘Information' Mean in Integrated Information Theory?

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Version: Final published version
License: CC BY 4.0
Serval ID
serval:BIB_74A273C74005
Type
Article: article from journal or magazin.
Collection
Publications
Title
What Does ‘Information' Mean in Integrated Information Theory?
Journal
Entropy
Author(s)
Lombardi Olimpia, López Cristian
ISSN
1099-4300 (electronic)
Publication state
Published
Issued date
22/11/2018
Peer-reviewed
Oui
Volume
20
Number
12
Pages
894
Language
english
Abstract
Integrated Information Theory (IIT) intends to provide a principled theoretical approach able to characterize consciousness both quantitatively and qualitatively. By starting off identifying the fundamental properties of experience itself, IIT develops a formal framework that relates those properties to the physical substratum of consciousness. One of the central features of ITT is the role that information plays in the theory. On the one hand, one of the self-evident truths about consciousness is that it is informative. On the other hand, mechanisms and systems of mechanics can contribute to consciousness only if they specify systems’ intrinsic information. In this paper, we will conceptually analyze the notion of information underlying ITT. Following previous work on the matter, we will particularly argue that information within ITT should be understood in the light of a causal-manipulabilist view of information (López and Lombardi 2018), conforming to which information is an entity that must be involved in causal links in order to be precisely defined. Those causal links are brought to light by means of interventionist procedures following Woodward’s and Pearl’s version of the manipulability theories of causation.
Keywords
Integrated information theory, Shannon information, Causation, Manipulability theory of causation
Pubmed
Web of science
Open Access
Yes
Create date
27/10/2022 17:05
Last modification date
14/11/2022 10:59
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