Emergence as the conversion of information: A unifying theory

Understand

Is reduction always a good scientific strategy? Does it always lead to a gain in information? The very existence of the special sciences above and beyond physics seems to hint no.

• Previous research has shown that dimension reduction (macroscales) can increase the dependency between elements of a system (a phenomenon called "causal emergence").
• However, this has been shown only for specific measures like effective information or integrated information.
• Here, we provide an umbrella mathematical framework for emergence based on information conversion.