Natural computation measured as a reduction of complexity
Ralph Lukas Stoop, Norbert Stoop · Chaos An Interdisciplinary Journal of Nonlinear Science · 2004
We argue that the deeper nature of computation is to reduce the statistical obstruction against prediction. From this, we derive an explicit measure of computation for general, artificial as well as natural, systems (electronic circuits, neurons, mechanical devices, etc.). The applicability and usefulness of this concept is demonstrated using well-studied families of dynamical systems, as well as experimental time series from cortical neurons.