Objective: This paper applies concepts of information science to healing.
Thirty seven years ago, the author explained how the mathematical theory of information can provide a useful model for conceptualizing and understanding central nervous activity. He proposed that "higher biological and psychological functioning, and ultimately consciousness, can be related to the increasing abstraction of biologically relevant information into patterns with optimal levels of redundancy and internal constraints, accompanied by the elimination of irrelevant information." This model provides the intellectual and esthetic satisfaction implicit in an approach toward comprehending both the living and non-living, conscious and nonconscious, universe, physical brain and psychological mind, in a single conceptual framework, and provides insights helpful in geriatric psychiatry. This presentation examines how recent advances in computer and information technology promise to fulfil this expectation, and proposes ideas for further exploration. Wolfram proposes computational algorithms as the key to "a new kind of science." In the search for efficient information compression, technology is moving in the direction already utilized by biological systems. Olshausen comments: "The human brain may hold the secrets to the best image-compression algorithms." Conversely, the algorithms devised for transmission of information over the airwaves and Internet provide insights into the relationship between brain and mind. Koza, Keane, and Streeter describe how computer programmers are harnessing software versions of simple evolutionary processes to achieve machine intelligence.
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