This information theory of individuality offers a very general way to think about biological units. They hope it will inspire algorithms that could allow you to extract figure from ground, organism from environment. Such algorithms could be applied to streams of data collected over time to pinpoint correlations of information that signify the emergence of individuals.

Within this theory, individuals can be cells, tissues, organisms, colonies, companies, political institutions, online groups, artificial intelligence or cities — even ideas or theories. What we’re trying to do is discover a whole zoo of life forms that extend far beyond what we have conventionally called living,

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