Order vs. Randomness

[Rayaan]

From an information-theoretic point of view, all forms of understanding are technically different forms of "data compression," which means that we transform a larger set of data or inputs that exist in our minds into a simpler and shorter set of data (i.e. to get an understanding). As the mathematician Gregory Chaitin said (quoted in Marcus Chown's The Never-Ending Days of Being Dead), "Understanding is compression," and then he says, "Ockham's razor is simply saying that the best scientific theory is the most compressible."

I came across another insightful paper today that elaborates on this model of epistemology, i.e. that all cognitive processes are essentially forms of data compression.

And then the physicist extends this compression-based model of the mind and says that, in some sense, 'simplicity' is equivalent to 'reality.'

What does this have to do with the elusive concept we call 'reality'? If 'reality' belongs to the realm of cognitive systems, then it must be firmly anchored on the concept of information, which is all cognitive systems, natural or artificial, have access to. In other words, reality is an information-based construct of our brains - a model - and one we could certainly call an illusion, too. And since, as we will argue, models are to represent information in simple terms, the notion of reality arises, ultimately, from the search for simplicity. In some sense 'simplicity' is equivalent to 'reality'.

Also, here are two great books which explain how a "deep" and "elegant" simplicity underlies all the myriad of complex interactions and seeming randomness that pervade the universe.

Deep Simplicity: Bringing Order to Chaos and Complexity (by John Gribbin)

Elegance in Science: The Beauty of Simplicity (by Ian Glynn)