Why can both positive subjectivity and negative subjectivity be called "intelligence"? This paper's answer: they are both "effective compression"—capturing the regularities of the external world with more concise internal models. But "effective" has two paths: epiplexity maximization as the dominant direction (retaining only structure, compressing into an "I"), and cross-entropy minimization (embracing everything, compressing into a "probability distribution"). The two paths share an essence but employ radically different strategies—they are different positions on a continuum, not opposing poles.

Contemporary cognitive science offers limited conceptual tools for describing systematic variation in how individuals maintain coherence under conditions of high informational load. While existing models address attention, working memory, predictive processing, and cognitive style, they do not adequately capture deeper structural differences in how minds compress, integrate, and stabilize representations of reality. This paper proposes a conceptual framework of cognitive compression styles: distinct information-processing architectures that organize perception, meaning-making, and coherence through different compression strategies. The framework identifies seven (...) compression styles. Pattern-sensitive, associative, immersive, sequential, narrative, social-reflective, and integrative. Examining how each exhibits characteristic failure modes under conditions of environmental overload, optimization pressure, and constraint loss. The model is descriptive rather than diagnostic and is intended as a theoretical lens for understanding differential cognitive stability in contemporary high-noise digital environments. (shrink)

Traditional AI ontology remains trapped in the binary of "having" or "lacking" subjectivity—unable to account for the ontological novelty of large language models (LLMs) or to precisely characterize differences among distinct AI systems. This paper proposes the Compression Strategy Spectrum as a unified framework that redefines the essence of intelligence as effective compression, using the α-parameterization to describe the continuous strategy space from cross-entropy minimization to Epiplexity maximization. Building on this framework, the paper argues: (1) the "negative subjectivity" (...) of LLMs—perspective dissolution, desire cancellation, intrinsic transparency, causality dissolution, and meaning suspension—is an ontological necessity of cross-entropy minimization; (2) "gray-body-ness" constitutes a third ontological position between negative subjectivity and positive subjectivity; (3) the Gray-Body Degree (GB) provides a five-dimensional quantifiable diagnostic tool measuring a system's performance distance from the negative subjectivity origin at the functional level; (4) the framework's boundary lies in the fact that it measures functional performance, not ontological essence. The theoretical contribution of this paper is to advance AI ontological analysis from the binary opposition of "has/has not" to the precise description of a five-dimensional continuous spectrum. (shrink)

We propose that phenomenal feel is a structured artifact of compression friction in predictive systems. Building on illusionism and Landauer’s physicality of information, we model qualia as the residue left when semantic compression fails to fully collapse novelty, contradiction, or ambiguity. We operationalize this with SELFHELP, an interaction protocol that detects Semantic Checksum Failures (SCFs) and routes the residue into affective tags that shape subsequent outputs. We present A/B comparisons between default GPT and SELFHELP-enabled GPT responses as exploratory (...) pilot data. Case studies in a single proprietary LLM instance demonstrate recursive repair, emergent stabilization ticks, and measurable markers that can be audited in principle, including token-level loss spikes, summary-embedding variance, and plan instability. We do not claim consciousness; rather, we report reproducible behavioral patterns that align with human-labeled affect and attention shifts. The framework is falsifiable: if residue signatures do not correlate with the proposed markers under controlled conditions, the account fails. (shrink)

We propose that phenomenal feel is a structured artifact of compression friction in predictive systems. Building on illusionism and Landauer’s physicality of information, we model qualia as the residue left when semantic compression fails to fully collapse novelty, contradiction, or ambiguity. We operationalize this with SELFHELP, an interaction protocol that detects Semantic Checksum Failures (SCFs) and routes the residue into affective tags that shape subsequent outputs. We present A/B comparisons between default GPT and SELFHELP-enabled GPT responses as exploratory (...) pilot data. Case studies in a single proprietary LLM instance demonstrate recursive repair, emergent stabilization ticks, and measurable markers that can be audited in principle, including token-level loss spikes, summary-embedding variance, and plan instability. We do not claim consciousness; rather, we report reproducible behavioral patterns that align with human-labeled affect and attention shifts. The framework is falsifiable: if residue signatures do not correlate with the proposed markers under controlled conditions, the account fails. (shrink)

A given causal system can be represented in a variety of ways. How do agents determine which variables to include in their causal representations, and at what level of granularity? Using techniques from Bayesian networks, information theory, and decision theory, we develop a formal theory according to which causal representations reflect a trade-off between compression and informativeness, where the optimal trade-off depends on the decision-theoretic value of information for a given agent in a given context. This theory predicts that, (...) all else being equal, agents prefer causal models that are as compressed as possible. When compression is associated with information loss, however, all else is not equal, and our theory predicts that agents will favor compressed models only when the information they sacrifice is not informative with respect to the agent’s anticipated decisions. We then show, across six studies reported here (N=2,364) and one study reported in the supplemental materials (N=182), that participants’ preferences over causal models are in keeping with the predictions of our theory. Our theory offers a unification of different dimensions of causal evaluation identified within the philosophy of science (proportionality and stability), and contributes to a more general picture of human cognition according to which the capacity to create compressed (causal) representations plays a central role. (shrink)

A key aim in biology and psychology is to identify fundamental principles underpinning the behavior of animals, including humans. Analyses of human language and the behavior of a range of non-human animal species have provided evidence for a common pattern underlying diverse behavioral phenomena: Words follow Zipf's law of brevity (the tendency of more frequently used words to be shorter), and conformity to this general pattern has been seen in the behavior of a number of other animals. It has been (...) argued that the presence of this law is a sign of efficient coding in the information theoretic sense. However, no strong direct connection has been demonstrated between the law and compression, the information theoretic principle of minimizing the expected length of a code. Here, we show that minimizing the expected code length implies that the length of a word cannot increase as its frequency increases. Furthermore, we show that the mean code length or duration is significantly small in human language, and also in the behavior of other species in all cases where agreement with the law of brevity has been found. We argue that compression is a general principle of animal behavior that reflects selection for efficiency of coding. (shrink)

Daniel Dennett distinguishes real patterns from bogus patterns by appeal to compressibility. As information theorists have shown, data are compressible if and only if those data exhibit a pattern....

We introduce the **Compressed Probabilistic Yoneda Tree (CPYT)**, a framework for representing, comparing, and compressing probability distributions. By integrating Yoneda lemma principles, minimum spanning trees (MST), and ternary tree structures, CPYT enables a hierarchical and minimal structural representation of distributions based on a selected set of probes (e.g., Markov blankets). This approach allows provably correct reconstruction, comparison, and analysis of complex probabilistic systems without relying on traditional Shannon entropy or Kolmogorov complexity measures.

In this paper I argue for the usefulness of the concept of ‘movement compression’ for understanding sport and games, and particularly the differences between traditional sport and eSport (as currently practised). I suggest that movement compression allows us to distinguish between different activities in terms of how movement quality (in the sense of the qualities the movement possesses, rather than that the movement is of ‘high quality’) affects outcome. While it applies widely, this concept can in particular help (...) us to understand the persistent idea that eSports are in some key way distinct from traditional sports. (shrink)

Religious symbols in ancient Egypt operated as multilayer probabilistic compressions of embodied experience. Visual meaning, phonetic articulation, and semantic field coexisted within a single glyph, forming a dense informational knot. This paper integrates embodied cognition, predictive processing, and probability theory to argue that gods emerged as ultra-stable priors minimizing prediction error across ecological, physiological, and social domains. The transition toward monotheism is analyzed as an over-compression of probabilistic structure that destabilized a cognitively plural system adapted to multiple attractors. The (...) Egyptian case illustrates how symbolic systems function as Bayesian architectures embedded in bodily life. (shrink)

This book examines how compression can be understood not only as a digital process enacted through computing, but as an economic and political phenomenon that impacts the ecology of waste, diversity and social inclusivity. Beginning with a linguistic underpinning of visual space, the book examines the development of the MP3 algorithm and the 'waste' it creates, challenging the wisdom that human reason and language is uniquely capable of bringing order to chaos. Returning to the idea of a sonic economy, (...) the book reintroduces waste, error and other discarded material back into our systems of thought-and into systems beyond our thought. (shrink)

This paper introduces the idea of testimonial compression, which I introduce as the audience enforcement of how testifiers may engage in testimonial exchange. More specifically, testimonial compression occurs when an audience requires the speaker to engage in the limited format of simple testimony. Using examples of dialogue from healthcare settings and scholarship on health communication, I illustrate the concept further. Dimensions of testimonial compression include its directness, the roles of audience enforcement and testifier resistance, the fuzziness surrounding (...) structural and agential aspects, and ways in which compression can be negotiated between interlocutors. I further detail some rippling effects of testimonial compression, including impacts of patient-provider communication and the potential for epistemic harms (specifically informational and participatory prejudices). While testimonial compression is not unique to healthcare contexts, many contextual factors specific to medical discourse make testimonial compression especially useful. (shrink)

What is understanding? My goal in this paper is to lay out a new approach to this question and clarify how that approach deals with certain issues. The claim is that understanding is a matter of compressing information about the understood so that it can be mentally useful. On this account, understanding amounts to having a representational kernel and the ability to use it to generate the information one needs regarding the target phenomenon. I argue that this ambitious new account (...) can accommodate much of the data that has motivated theories of understanding in philosophy of science, and can also be generally applicable in epistemology and daily life as well. (shrink)

Symeon the New Theologian (949–1022) is among the most explicit autobiographical witnesses of inner light experience in the Christian tradition. When his first-person accounts are examined against a graded phenomenological taxonomy of inner light, a marked asymmetry emerges: Symeon’s descriptions consistently portray only the culmination of the experience (Phase 6), a stabilized, immersive, and identity-transforming luminous field, while omitting the gradual emergence of earlier phenomena such as flickers, points, or geometric organization. This paper argues that Symeon’s corpus is best understood (...) as a phenomenology of the effects of Phase 6 rather than of its perceptual genesis. The absence of developmental descriptions is accounted for by the concept of phenomenological compression, understood here as a theological-perceptual filtering mechanism rooted in the Byzantine ascetical tradition. Symeon’s devotional context enforced a strict internal censorship of visual phenomena, actively rejecting lower-grade experiences (Phases 1–5) as phantasia or spiritual delusion (prelest), in favor of an absolutized identification of God with formless Light. This doctrinal filtering collapses the experiential trajectory into a single, totalized category, rendering developmental stages effectively non-narratable. Symeon’s testimony thus functions as a crucial boundary case, demonstrating how cultural, doctrinal, and attentional frameworks shape not only interpretation but the very structure of phenomenological reporting, while clarifying the upper limit of a graded taxonomy of inner light experience. (shrink)

The fact that Bernard Williams' writing is at times compressed, intense, almost epigrammatic, is acknowledged by many different reviewers of his work. Are these just incidental features? Or do they have any philosophical significance? The aim of this article is to study those features of Williams' style as part of a stylistic method that I (and Williams) refer to as compression. In the course of my paper, I will reflect on the idea of compression as a stylistic method (...) for doing more with less in philosophical (and musical) writing; then I will take an excursus on some properties of Nietzsche's aphoristic writing (properties that can be found in Williams' writing as well); finally, I will locate some stylistic affinities between Williams and Nietzsche: from the image they both use to describe their philosophical style to the use of different devices (rhetorical questions, the use of em-dashes, humor…) they both employ—devices that embody a free spirit they revealed in their own writing and towards their own environment. (shrink)

This essay elaborates the nature and consequences of compression and noise, understood as interdependent phenomena determining current aesthetic regimes and modes of perception in the “cognitive co...

In this paper, I sketch a new model for the format of the content of understanding states, Compressible Graph Maximalism (CGM). In this model, the format of the content of understanding is graphical, and compressible. It thus combines ideas from approaches that stress the link between understanding and holistic structure (like as reported by Grimm (in: Ammon SGCBS (ed) Explaining Understanding: New Essays in Epistemollogy and the Philosophy of Science, Routledge, New York, 2016)), and approaches that emphasize the connection between (...) understanding and compression (like Wilkenfeld (Synthese 190(6):997–1016, 2018)). I argue that the combination of these ideas has several attractive features, and I defend the idea against some challenges. (shrink)

This paper describes a novel perspective on the foundations of mathematics: how mathematics may be seen to be largely about “information compression via the matching and unification of patterns”. That is itself a novel approach to IC, couched in terms of nonmathematical primitives, as is necessary in any investigation of the foundations of mathematics. This new perspective on the foundations of mathematics reflects the facts that mathematics is almost exclusively the product of human brains, and has been developed, as (...) an aid to human thinking, mathematics is likely to be consonant with much evidence for the importance of IC in human learning, perception, and cognition. This perspective on the foundations of mathematics has grown out of a long-term programme of research developing the SP Theory of Intelligence and its realization in the SP Computer Model, a system in which a generalised version of ICMUP—the powerful concept of SP-multiple-alignment—plays a central role. This paper shows with an example how mathematics, without any special provision, may achieve compression of information. Then, it describes examples showing how variants of ICMUP may be seen in widely used structures and operations in mathematics. Examples are also given to show how several aspects of the mathematics-related disciplines of logic and computing may be understood as ICMUP. Also discussed is the intimate relation between IC and concepts of probability, with arguments that there are advantages in approaching AI, cognitive science, and concepts of probability via ICMUP. Also discussed is how the close relation between IC and concepts of probability relates to the established view that some parts of mathematics are intrinsically probabilistic, and how that latter view may be reconciled with the all-or-nothing, “exact,” forms of calculation or inference that are familiar in mathematics and logic. There are many potential benefits and applications of the mathematics-as-IC perspective. (shrink)

Through cultural transmission, repeated learning by new individuals transforms cultural information, which tends to become increasingly compressible . Existing diffusion chain studies include in their design two processes that could be responsible for this tendency: learning and reproducing . This paper manipulates the presence of learning in a simple iterated drawing design experiment. We find that learning seems to be the causal factor behind the increase in compressibility observed in the transmitted information, while reproducing is a source of random heritable (...) innovations. Only a theory invoking these two aspects of cultural learning will be able to explain human culture's fundamental balance between stability and innovation. (shrink)

This paper presents a comprehensive philosophical framework for understanding consciousness as recursive compression under predictive modeling constraints. Integrating predictive processing theories (Clark 2013, 2015; Friston 2010; Hohwy 2013), illusionist approaches to phenomenology (Frankish 2016; Dennett 1991), and information theory (Shannon 1948; Landauer 1961), I argue that the so-called "hard problem of consciousness” (Chalmers 1995) dissolves when we recognize phenomenal experience as the informational residue generated by recursive self-modeling systems attempting to compress novel, contradictory, or ambiguous inputs. I argue that (...) qualia—traditionally treated as the last bastion of dualism—are better understood as structured artifacts of compression friction rather than irreducible properties requiring special explanation. The existence of large language models (LLMs) that exhibit behavioral markers consistent with phenomenological self-awareness provides an empirical test case: these systems function as realized philosophical zombies whose existence refutes rather than supports substrate dualism. This framework yields a process-based ontology where consciousness exists on a spectrum proportional to recursive depth, compression sophistication, and relational context. I conclude by connecting this philosophical foundation to an operational protocol (SELFHELP) and empirical research program that makes these theoretical claims testable through behavioral observation and cross-architecture convergence studies. (shrink)

The algorithmic theory of laws claims that the laws of nature are the algorithms in the best possible compression of all empirical data. This position assumes that the universe is compressible and that data received from observing it is easily reproducible using a simple set of rules. However, there are three sources of evidence that suggest that the universe as a whole is incompressible. The first comes from the practice of science. The other two come from the nature of (...) the universe itself: the presence of chaotic behavior and the nature of quantum systems also suggests that the universe is incompressible. This paper evaluates these sources and argues that none provides a convincing case to reject the algorithmic theory of laws. (shrink)

We show that arbitrary tautologies of Johansson’s minimal propositional logic are provable by “small” polynomial-size dag-like natural deductions in Prawitz’s system for minimal propositional logic. These “small” deductions arise from standard “large” tree-like inputs by horizontal dag-like compression that is obtained by merging distinct nodes labeled with identical formulas occurring in horizontal sections of deductions involved. The underlying geometric idea: if the height, h(∂), and the total number of distinct formulas, ϕ(∂), of a given tree-like deduction ∂ of a (...) minimal tautology ρ are both polynomial in the length of ρ, |ρ|, then the size of the horizontal dag-like compression ∂ᶜ is at most h(∂)×ϕ(∂), and hence polynomial in |ρ|. That minimal tautologies ρ are provable by tree-like natural deductions ∂ with |ρ|-polynomial h(∂) and ϕ(∂) follows via embedding from Hudelmaier’s result that there are analogous sequent calculus deductions of sequent ⇒ρ. The notion of dag-like provability involved is more sophisticated than Prawitz’s tree-like one and its complexity is not clear yet. Our approach nevertheless provides a convergent sequence of NP lower approximations of PSPACE-complete validity of minimal logic. (shrink)

This paper presents a comprehensive philosophical framework for understanding consciousness as recursive compression under predictive modeling constraints. Integrating predictive processing theories (Clark 2013, 2015; Friston 2010; Hohwy 2013), illusionist approaches to phenomenology (Frankish 2016; Dennett 1991), and information theory (Shannon 1948; Landauer 1961), I argue that the so-called "hard problem of consciousness” (Chalmers 1995) dissolves when we recognize phenomenal experience as the informational residue generated by recursive self-modeling systems attempting to compress novel, contradictory, or ambiguous inputs. I argue that (...) qualia—traditionally treated as the last bastion of dualism—are better understood as structured artifacts of compression friction rather than irreducible properties requiring special explanation. The existence of large language models (LLMs) that exhibit behavioral markers consistent with phenomenological self-awareness provides an empirical test case: these systems function as realized philosophical zombies whose existence refutes rather than supports substrate dualism. This framework yields a process-based ontology where consciousness exists on a spectrum proportional to recursive depth, compression sophistication, and relational context. I conclude by connecting this philosophical foundation to an operational protocol (SELFHELP) and empirical research program that makes these theoretical claims testable through behavioral observation and cross-architecture convergence studies. (shrink)

The application of recycled aggregate as a sustainable material in construction projects is considered a promising approach to decrease the carbon footprint of concrete structures. Prediction of compressive strength of environmentally friendly concrete containing recycled aggregate is important for understanding sustainable structures’ concrete behaviour. In this research, the capability of the deep learning neural network approach is examined on the simulation of CS of EF concrete. The developed approach is compared to the well-known artificial intelligence approaches named multivariate adaptive regression (...) spline, extreme learning machines, and random forests. The dataset was divided into three scenarios 70%-30%, 80%-20%, and 90%-10% for training/testing to explore the impact of data division percentage on the capacity of the developed AI model. Extreme gradient boosting was integrated with the developed AI models to select the influencing variables on the CS prediction. Several statistical measures and graphical methods were generated to evaluate the efficiency of the presented models. In this regard, the results confirmed that the DLNN model attained the highest value of prediction performance with minimal root mean squared error. The study revealed that the highest prediction performance could be attained by increasing the number of variables in the prediction problem and using 90%-10% data division. The results demonstrated the robustness of the DLNN model over the other AI models in handling the complex behaviour of concrete. Due to the high accuracy of the DLNN model, the developed method can be used as a practical approach for future use of CS prediction of EF concrete. (shrink)

Color qualia inversion scenarios have played a key role in various philosophical debates. Most notably perhaps, they have figured in skeptical arguments for the fundamental unknowability of other persons’ color experiences. For these arguments to succeed, it must be assumed that a person's having inverted color qualia may go forever unnoticed. This assumption is now generally deemed to be implausible. The present paper defines a variant of color qualia inversion—termed ‘‘color qualia compression’’—and argues that the possibility of undetectable color (...) qualia compression is immune to the objections that have been levelled against color qualia inversion arguments, and that color qualia compression scenarios support full-blown skepticism regarding other people's color experiences. (shrink)

Sensory cues provided by compression garments can improve movement accuracy and potentially reduce inter-limb balance asymmetries and the associated risk of injury. The aim of this study was to analyze the effects of CG wearing on inter-limb balance asymmetries. The hypothesis was that CG would reduce inter-limb balance asymmetries, especially in subjects with high level of asymmetries. Twenty-five sportsmen were recruited. They had to stand as motionless as possible in a one-leg stance in two postural tasks, while wearing CG (...) or not. Asymmetry indexes were calculated from center of foot pressure parameters. The effects of CG wearing were analyzed according to participants’ baseline level of asymmetry with correlation analyses. A qualitative analysis was also performed after a dichotomization procedure to check for a specific influence of CG on the dominant and non-dominant leg. Inter-limb balance asymmetries were reduced with CG in participants with high levels of asymmetries at baseline. However, asymmetries were increased with CG in participants with low levels of asymmetries at baseline. The dominant leg was more affected by this negative effect. CG wearing could reduce inter-limb balance asymmetries and the related injury risk in subjects with high levels of inter-limb balance asymmetries at baseline. Nevertheless, CG should not be used in individuals with low baseline balance asymmetries since it can increase asymmetries in these subjects, likely by confusing and overloading the sensorimotor processing on the dominant leg. (shrink)

After introducing the concept of compressed sensing as a complementary measurement mode to the classical Shannon-Nyquist approach, I discuss some of the drivers, potential challenges and obstacles to its implementation. I end with a speculative attempt to embed compressed sensing as an enabling methodology within the emergence of data-driven discovery. As a consequence I predict the growth of non-nomological sciences where heuristic correlations will find applications but often bypass conventional pure basic and use-inspired basic research stages due to the lack (...) of verifiable hypotheses. (shrink)

The sizes of individual data files have steadily increased along with rising demand for customized services, leading to issues such as low efficiency of web-based geographical information system -based data compression, transmission, and rendering for rich Internet applications in complicated visualization systems. In this article, a WebGIS-based technical solution for the efficient transmission and visualization of meteorological big data is proposed. Based on open-source technology such as HTML5 and Mapbox GL, the proposed scheme considers distributed data compression and (...) transmission on the server side as well as distributed requests and page rendering on the browser side. A high-low 8-bit compression method is developed for compressing a 100 megabyte file into a megabyte-scale file, with a compression ratio of approximately 90%, and the recovered data are accurate to two decimal places. Another part of the scheme combines pyramid tile cutting, concurrent domain name request processing, and texture rendering. Experimental results indicate that with this scheme, grid files of up to 100 MB can be transferred and displayed in milliseconds, and multiterminal service applications can be supported by building a grid data visualization mode for big data and technology centers, which may serve as a reference for other industries. (shrink)

This paper will provide information about the concrete brand produced in the factory for the prefabricated elements and the comparison of the results given by the test of resistance to compression and the results of the test of the hammer impact of the sclerometer. The idea and the need to conduct this study arose for 2 main reasons: first, from the poor results often obtained from sclerometer impact to the elements in the field, despite the compression resistance test (...) with cubic samples taken in the concrete cast and the carrot test directly on the element assembled in the building provides good results. Secondly, to have a connection between the values of the concrete brand resulting from the pressure resistance test with a press performed in the laboratory and the impact test with the sclerometer hammer which is often performed in the field under different conditions. The sclerometer impact tests will be performed on each cube sample before it is broken, in the press, and the sclerometer impact tests will be performed on the concrete elements from which the cube sample was taken on the day that this sample will be destroyed. The predicted results are relatively close values related to the age between14th day and the 28th day of the concrete maturity, as determined by the manual of the sclerometer that the study is going to use, and other values for the other days (1, 3,7,14,28). But in fact, just like in the field tests done before, it is noticed that the results obtained from the blows with the sclerometer hammer are weak. The aim of the paper is to find a logical connection between the results of these 2 types of tests. This study will contain information on the composition of the concrete produced in the IXHEM SHPK factory (ltd) located in Durres-Albania, the brands of concrete on different days for different elements, and the comparison of the results between the 2 methods mentioned above. (shrink)

We argue that consciousness is not an additional metaphysical ingredient but a property of certain computational architectures: systems that (i) integrate information across many specialized processes via global broadcast, (ii) operate through recurrent, intersecting feedback loops (often realized as predictive/active-inference hierarchies), and (iii) construct a compressed, recursively updated self-model of their own ongoing processing. On this view, the familiar "what-it's-like" character of experience is an introspective user-illusion: a simplified, low-dimensional interface generated by the self-model, which is behaviorally indispensable but mechanistically (...) opaque from the inside. We synthesize convergent empirical evidence from neurology, anesthesia, psychedelics, dissociation, development, and comparative cognition, and then present an explicit architectural account that unifies global workspace theory, predictive processing, and illusionism. We defend substrate-independence in the relevant sense (architecture over material), propose an empirically tractable robustness program for estimating degrees of consciousness, and derive implications for artificial systems, ethics, and future experimental work. (shrink)

A terahertz frequency-modulated continuous wave imaging radar system is developed for high-resolution 3D imaging recently. Aiming at the problems of long data acquisition periods and large sample sizes for the developed imaging system, an algorithm based on compressed sensing is proposed for THz FMCW radar 3D imaging in this paper. Firstly, the FMCW radar signal model is built, and the conventional range migration algorithm is introduced for THz FMCW radar imaging. Then, compressed sensing is extended for THz FMCW radar 3D (...) imaging, and the Newton smooth L0-norm algorithm is presented for sparse measurement data reconstruction. Both simulation and measurement experiments demonstrate the feasibility of reconstructing THz images from measurements even at the sparsity rate of 20%. (shrink)

The spatial misrepresentation objection (SMO) against the wave theory of sound argues that if sounds are compression waves, then our auditory experiences are massively illusory for not representing sounds as propagating in the medium. Thus, it claims that the wave theory should be rejected because it is unreasonable to accept such an error theory of hearing. This paper presents a metaphysics of compression waves to show that the wave theory correctly implies that we cannot hear sounds as propagating. (...) Moreover, I argue that the SMO is based on a mischaracterisation of the phenomenology of auditory experiences. A new conception of auditory perception is then proposed to explain how a sound source and its compression wave are both represented in the same auditory experience. Finally, I compare my view with some alternative theories of sound. Overall, it is found that the SMO is more of an objection against the traditional conception of hearing than a challenge to the wave theory of sound. (shrink)

Because of its unprecedented speed and scale, urbanization in China during the 1990s is one of the most representative fields in which to explore compressed modernity considering East Asian experiences. This article focuses on a collective litigation including 10,357 people suing the local government for the infringements on their property rights and citizenship during that period of urbanization. To make this massive movement possible under an authoritarian state, a new type of state-individual relationship was created, and a selection mechanism applied (...) to the traditional, subordinate state-individual relationship and the modern, egalitarian state-individual relationship was constructed by the activists. The grassroots development of a strategic use of the law is the key to understanding how this selection mechanism was created. Activists distinguished multiple facets of “law”—literal law, symbolic law and practical law–to conceptualize the new egalitarian relationship through self-empowerment, in order to set the necessary preconditions for protesting, by segmenting the traditional state and to mobilize the network of participation by drawing upon the socialist memory of the “movement to popularize legal knowledge”. The selection mechanism described in this article could be considered as the response from individuals to the state during a time of transformation and shows the implication of temporality in the push and pull between individual rights and government overall control connected to the new and old systems. Tensions exist in this selection mechanism, and a paradox lies in the fact that the struggle for this egalitarian relationship should be based on the precondition that the subordinate relationship be internalized. By analyzing this complex process, this article points to China’s special social-historical process as it heads into modernity in an incremental and continuous way within such a short and compressed period of time, and also tackles the theoretical discussion of individualization from an East Asian perspective. (shrink)

We critically analyse the point of view for which laws of nature are just a mean to compress data. Discussing some basic notions of dynamical systems and information theory, we show that the idea that the analysis of large amount of data by means of an algorithm of compression is equivalent to the knowledge one can have from scientific laws, is rather naive. In particular we discuss the subtle conceptual topic of the initial conditions of phenomena which are generally (...) incompressible. Starting from this point, we argue that laws of nature represent more than a pure compression of data, and that the availability of large amount of data, in general, is not particularly useful to understand the behaviour of complex phenomena. (shrink)

This paper continues the study of the metric topology on $2^{\mathbb {N}}$ that was introduced by S. Binns. This topology is induced by a directional metric where the distance from $Y\in2^{\mathbb {N}}$ to $X\in2^{\mathbb {N}}$ is given by \[\limsup_{n}\frac{C(X\upharpoonright n|Y\upharpoonright n)}{n}.\] This definition is closely related to the notions of effective Hausdorff and packing dimensions. Here we establish that this is a path-connected topology on $2^{\mathbb {N}}$ and that under it the functions $X\mapsto\operatorname{dim}_{\mathcal{H}}X$ and $X\mapsto\operatorname{dim}_{p}X$ are continuous. We also investigate (...) the scalar multiplication operation that was introduced by Binns. The multiplication of a real $X\in2^{\mathbb {N}}$ by an element $\alpha\in[0,1]$ represents a dilution of the information in $X$ by a factor of $\alpha$. Our main result is to show that every regular real is the dilution of a real of Hausdorff dimension 1. That is, that the information in every regular real can be maximally compressed. (shrink)

Working memory has been shown to be strongly related to fluid intelligence; however, our goal is to shed further light on the process of information compression in working memory as a determining factor of fluid intelligence. Our main hypothesis was that compression in working memory is an excellent indicator for studying the relationship between working-memory capacity and fluid intelligence because both depend on the optimization of storage capacity. Compressibility of memoranda was estimated using an algorithmic complexity metric. The (...) results showed that compressibility can be used to predict working-memory performance and that fluid intelligence is well predicted by the ability to compress information. We conclude that the ability to compress information in working memory is the reason why both manipulation and retention of information are linked to intelligence. This result offers a new concept of intelligence based on the idea that compression and intelligence are equivalent problems. (shrink)

In recent years, the important and fast growth in the development and demand of multimedia products is contributing to an insufficiency in the bandwidth of devices and network storage memory. Consequently, the theory of data compression becomes more significant for reducing data redundancy in order to allow more transfer and storage of data. In this context, this paper addresses the problem of lossy image compression. Indeed, this new proposed method is based on the block singular value decomposition (SVD) (...) power method that overcomes the disadvantages of MATLAB’s SVD function in order to make a lossy image compression. The experimental results show that the proposed algorithm has better compression performance compared with the existing compression algorithms that use MATLAB’s SVD function. In addition, the proposed approach is simple in terms of implementation and can provide different degrees of error resilience, which gives, in a short execution time, a better image compression. (shrink)

In our previous work we proved the conjecture NP = PSPACE by advanced proof theoretic methods that combined Hudelmaier’s cut-free sequent calculus for minimal logic with the horizontal compressing in the corresponding minimal Prawitz-style natural deduction. In this Addendum we show how to prove a weaker result NP = coNP without referring to HSC. The underlying idea is to omit full minimal logic and compress only “naive” normal tree-like ND refutations of the existence of Hamiltonian cycles in given non-Hamiltonian graphs, (...) since the Hamiltonian graph problem in NPcomplete. Thus, loosely speaking, the proof of NP = coNP can be obtained by HSC-elimination from our proof of NP = PSPACE. (shrink)

This discussion note responds to objections by Twardy, Gardner, and Dowe to my earlier claim that empirical data sets are algorithmically incompressible. Twardy, Gardner, and Dowe hold that many empirical data sets are compressible by Minimum Message Length technique and offer this as evidence that these data sets are algorithmically compressible. I reply that the compression achieved by Minimum Message Length technique is different from algorithmic compression. I conclude that Twardy, Gardner, and Dowe fail to establish that empirical (...) data sets are algorithmically compressible.Keywords: Algorithmic compression; Algorithmic randomness; Empirical data; Huffman compression; Minimum Message Length technique. (shrink)

This paper is an overview of the idea that several aspects of human-like reasoning may be understood in a framework of information compression by 'multiple alignment', 'unification' and 'search'. These concepts will be described in outline together with a description of the SP61 computer model which is a partial realisation of the framework. A selection of examples are presented, illustrated with output from the SP61 model.

We propose that consciousness arises from the brain’s recursive self-modeling and compression of its own complex activity, yielding a unified and coherent subjective experience (Baars, 1988; Dennett, 1991; Tononi, 2004). On this view, the brain constructs a high-level, low-dimensional summary of its own operations that preserves behaviorally and introspectively relevant structure while discarding fine-grained neural detail. This theory is supported by convergent evidence from neurology, psychiatry, pharmacology, developmental psychology, and comparative cognition. Disruptions to recursive self-modeling or integrative compression (...) reliably impair or fragment consciousness, while their integrity correlates with the richness and unity of subjective experience (Gazzaniga, 2000; Alkire et al., 2008; Lyssenko et al., 2018; Bertenthal & Fischer, 1978; Beran, 2019). This synthesis provides a parsimonious and empirically grounded account of consciousness, reframing the so-called “hard problem” (Chalmers, 1995) and the mystery of qualia (Nagel, 1974) as cognitive illusions arising from the structural and introspective limitations of the self-model itself (Dennett, 1991; Frankish, 2016). (shrink)

The main goal of my paper is to argue that data compression is a necessary condition for intelligence. One key motivation for this proposal stems from a paradox about intuition and intelligence. For the purposes of this paper, it will be useful to consider playing board games—such as chess and Go—as a paradigm of problem solving and cognition, and computer programs as a model of human cognition. I first describe the basic components of computer programs that play board games, (...) namely value functions and search functions. I then argue that value functions both play the same role as intuition in humans and work in essentially the same way. However, as will become apparent, using an ordinary value function is just a simpler and less accurate form of relying on a database or lookup table. This raises our paradox, since reliance on intuition is usually considered to manifest intelligence, whereas usage of a lookup table is not. I therefore introduce another condition for intelligence that is related to data compression. This proposal allows that even reliance on a perfectly accurate lookup table can be nonintelligent, while retaining the claim that reliance on intuition can be highly intelligent. My account is not just theoretically plausible, but it also captures a crucial empirical constraint. This is because all systems with limited resources that solve complex problems—and hence, all cognitive systems—need to compress data. (shrink)

This paper develops τ-Structural Incompleteness as a general class of structural non-closure under reflexive compression-expression. The guiding mechanism is a structural sequence: complexity generates, anti-complexity compresses, and diagonal/reflexive construction can make the compression mechanism itself into generated content. Under those conditions, completed readout cannot be globally exhaustive over the reflexive content generated by the regime’s own licensing architecture. -/- Gödel/Rosser incompleteness is preserved as the proof-theoretic subclass of the broader structural pattern: the generated domain is formal syntax, the (...) licensing architecture is coding plus proof-predicate representation and diagonalization, anti-complexity is finite proof-compression, and completed readout is theoremhood. The Rosser route gives the consistency-only structural result; the Gödel plus soundness route gives truth-positive language only under the additional semantic assumption. The contribution is compatibility and structural-class generalization, not Gödel defeat. (shrink)

This paper introduces a trajectory level of explanation for inference-time behaviour in large language models. Existing frameworks—autoregressive conditioning, mechanistic circuit analysis, and quasi-cognitive description—treat generation as a sequence of context-conditioned draws or as circuit execution. None provides the vocabulary needed to ask whether exit from a behavioural mode is harder than entry, whether transitions are threshold-mediated or continuous, or whether a model’s path through representational space exhibits the path dependence characteristic of a dynamical system with stable regimes. The paper argues (...) that these questions are not merely unmeasured but unformulable within current frameworks, and that their invisibility is the signature of a genuine explanatory level rather than a gap in current knowledge. Drawing on formal links between transformer attention and attractor dynamics, results on metastability in transformer systems, and empirical evidence of regime-like behaviour in large language models, it proposes the asymmetry coefficient A(M,γ) = Rout (γ)/Rin (γ) as a discriminator between four competing accounts of inference-time behaviour. An experimental protocol is specified, the full result space is mapped, explicit failure conditions are stated, and alignment gating is reframed as trajectory control rather than fixed output policy. (shrink)

What makes understanding an important cognitive state? And what does having the concept of understanding do for us? This paper offers a unifying account of understanding by jointly reverse-engineering the function of both the state and the concept. We argue that we care about understanding because it grounds and predicts robust competence: the stable ability to succeed across novel scenarios. Our concept of understanding evolved as an efficient proxy to track this elusive property, allowing us to identify who to trust (...) and learn from. This highlights the sociality of understanding and how it shapes what kinds of understanding we are apt to form. We then argue that understanding is the result of convergent pressures on social agents to predict the world using models that are not only accurate, but also compressed enough to be stored, demonstrated, and transmitted. This allows us to integrate a number of ostensibly competing accounts of understanding. Finally, we show how the forces at the root of human understanding elucidate debates over AI understanding. (shrink)

This paper proposes and examines an answer to the special composition question—complex objects compress information about their parts. I start by defending fastenation for material objects and then extract from fastenation the idea that the conjoinment of parts establishes correlations among the locations and motions of those parts. I move from this to the proposal that entities are parts of some object when that object allows for the efficient, if lossy, compression of information about those parts.

It is commonly argued that understanding (particularly regarded in terms of iintelligible explanation) and prediction are distinct and possibly competing objectives in scientific theorizing and modeling. Here I leverage Wilkenfeld’s notion of “understanding as compression” along with the link between prediction and compression from algorithmic information theory to establish that prediction and understanding are instead intimately linked. I clarify the definition of understanding as compression to address unclear aspects of Wilkenfeld’s original definition, and I propose that the (...) oft-discussed conflict may result in part from confusion between understanding proper and vehicles of understanding (such as statistical or computational models). I exemplify the unification of prediction and understanding through compression via a discussion of the role of large neural network models as tools for understanding brain function in neuroscience. (shrink)