Approaching the general quantification of functional information

Abstract Information is everywhere, especially in the digital, artificial intelligence, and big data worlds we live in. In fact, information has always played a pivotal role; however, that role is, as the years of history accumulate, becoming even more significant. It is, therefore, a pursuit of sci...

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Main Author: Robert Kudelić
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Nature Portfolio 2025-02-01
Series:Scientific Reports
Subjects:
Online Access:https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-89487-y
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author Robert Kudelić
author_facet Robert Kudelić
author_sort Robert Kudelić
collection DOAJ
description Abstract Information is everywhere, especially in the digital, artificial intelligence, and big data worlds we live in. In fact, information has always played a pivotal role; however, that role is, as the years of history accumulate, becoming even more significant. It is, therefore, a pursuit of scientific inquiry to quantify the functionality and semantics of information—this is also the goal of the article one reads. We have constructively and critically reviewed state-of-the-art approaches, presented challenges, and suggested a new approach that deals with the issues of information quantification. The developed approach represents a method for general quantification of functional information, including the total functional information of a system and the semantics revealed by functionality. Such a general method can potentially have significance far beyond the shores of information quantification, especially considering the importance of information in computer and information science, quantum physics, and chemistry. We have also made first steps of placing functional information in a computational complexity framework, which will potentially foster algorithmics around it, especially in terms of optimality or degeneracy, and possibly even in terms of work around classes of computational complexity.
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spelling doaj-art-f5a49102a4ea4fddbee616a58704d2b12025-02-09T12:32:24ZengNature PortfolioScientific Reports2045-23222025-02-0115111310.1038/s41598-025-89487-yApproaching the general quantification of functional informationRobert Kudelić0University of Zagreb Faculty of Organization and InformaticsAbstract Information is everywhere, especially in the digital, artificial intelligence, and big data worlds we live in. In fact, information has always played a pivotal role; however, that role is, as the years of history accumulate, becoming even more significant. It is, therefore, a pursuit of scientific inquiry to quantify the functionality and semantics of information—this is also the goal of the article one reads. We have constructively and critically reviewed state-of-the-art approaches, presented challenges, and suggested a new approach that deals with the issues of information quantification. The developed approach represents a method for general quantification of functional information, including the total functional information of a system and the semantics revealed by functionality. Such a general method can potentially have significance far beyond the shores of information quantification, especially considering the importance of information in computer and information science, quantum physics, and chemistry. We have also made first steps of placing functional information in a computational complexity framework, which will potentially foster algorithmics around it, especially in terms of optimality or degeneracy, and possibly even in terms of work around classes of computational complexity.https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-89487-yFunctional informationQuantificationComplex systemsAlgorithmics
spellingShingle Robert Kudelić
Approaching the general quantification of functional information
Scientific Reports
Functional information
Quantification
Complex systems
Algorithmics
title Approaching the general quantification of functional information
title_full Approaching the general quantification of functional information
title_fullStr Approaching the general quantification of functional information
title_full_unstemmed Approaching the general quantification of functional information
title_short Approaching the general quantification of functional information
title_sort approaching the general quantification of functional information
topic Functional information
Quantification
Complex systems
Algorithmics
url https://doi.org/10.1038/s41598-025-89487-y
work_keys_str_mv AT robertkudelic approachingthegeneralquantificationoffunctionalinformation