#epistemology #computing Last modified date: 2022-08-12 12:41 Commit: 6 # [[Epistemic status]] #shower-thought # Related - [[Readwise/Articles/en.wikipedia.org - Kolmogorov Complexity - Wikipedia]] - [[Computing/Software Engineering/Kolmogorov maintainability]] - [[Philosophy/Epistemology/Kolmogorov randomness]] - [[Readwise/Articles/Josh Rehman - Shtetl-Optimized » Blog Archive » the Kolmogorov Option]] # Kolmogorov complexity >Likewise, the transcendental number $\pi = 3.1415...$, an infinite sequence of seemingly "random" decimal digits, contains but a few bits of infor- mation. (There is a short program that produces the consecutive digits of 1 forever.) Such a definition would appear to make the amount of information in a string (or other object) depend on the particular pro- gramming language used. Fortunately, it can be shown that all reasonable choices of programming languages lead to quantification of the amount of "absolute" information in individual objects that is invariant up to an additive constant. We call this quantity the "**Kolmogorov complexity**" of the object. If an object contains regularities, then it has a shorter description than itself. We call such an object "compressible." >~ [[Ming Li]] >The prefix Kolmogorov complexity K(x) has been defined as the shortest program p for which the universal prefix Turing machine U outputs string x, and similarly K(2)y) in case of side information y > ~ [[Marcus Hutter]] [[Symmetry]] [[Maximum entropy]] [[Simplicity]] #to-digest ![[A55194E5-281F-4233-9949-CF0A98D8C6F8.jpeg]] ~ [[Marcus Hutter]] ![[13877571-230F-44BB-82D7-8BF09455A4C9.jpeg]] ~ [[Marcus Hutter]] ## Wikipedia has a low Kolmogorov complexity Wikipedia definitions tend to be the shortest strings defining a [[Memetic|meme]]. # External links - https://scottaaronson.blog/?p=3376