"Information-theoretic Foundations of the Elements of Intelligence"
Dr. Christoph Adami, Michigan State University
Monday, November 7th at 5:30 p.m., 118 Psychology
About Dr. Adami
Dr. Adami is Professor for Microbiology and Molecular Genetics & Physics and Astronomy at
Michigan State University in East Lansing, Michigan. As a computational biologist,
Dr. Adami’s main focus is Darwinian evolution, which he studies theoretically, experimentally, and
computationally, at different levels of organization (from simple molecules to brains).
He has pioneered the application of methods from information theory to the study of evolution,
and designed the “Avida” system that launched the use of digital life (mutating and adapting
computer viruses living in a controlled computer environment) as a tool for investigating basic
questions in evolutionary biology. He was also a Principal Scientist at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory
where he conducted research into the foundations of quantum mechanics and quantum information theory.
Dr. Adami earned a BS in physics and mathematics and a Diplom in theoretical physics from the
University of Bonn (Germany) and MA and PhD degrees in physics from the State University of New York at Stony Brook.
He wrote the textbook “Introduction to Artificial Life” (Springer, 1998) and is the recipient of NASA’s Exceptional Achievement Medal. He was elected a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science (AAAS) in 2011.
Abstract
While there may never be a universally acknowledged definition of what constitutes intelligence, recent work has focused on the fitness advantage that intelligence bestows. In this context, intelligence is used to better predict both the current and future state of the environment, and should therefore be amenable to an information-theoretic characterization. I will discuss the information-theoretic foundations of five elements of intelligence: categorization, memory, prediction, learning and inference, and representation. While this is by no means an exhaustive list of the elements of intelligence (nor are they without overlap) they are all intimately tied to how we acquire, store, and manipulate information in order to succeed.
Suggested Readings
Marstaller, L., Hintze, A., Adami, C. (2013). The Evolution of Representation in Simple Cognitive Networks. In Neural Computation, 2079-2107. [.pdf]
Tehrani-Saleh, A., & Adami, C. (2021, July). Psychophysical tests reveal that evolved artificial brains perceive time like humans. In ALIFE 2021: The 2021 Conference on Artificial Life (pp. 111-133). MIT Press. [.pdf]