Information Theory

Abstract

The title of our symposium is “Information Theory in the Nervous System,” and we have heard relatively little about such topics as Shannon’s theory of communication or Wiener’s theory of filters which usually go under the name of “information theory.” I think this is not surprising and without detracting from the value of these theories, it may be in order to point out some of their limitations. I submit that “information theory” in the sense of Shannon or Wiener is too restrictive for our purposes. Thus, the quantum theory of vision, the transformation of signals in nerve nets, memory and the thought processes which lead to the creation of “information theory” itself are all proper subjects for the study of biological information theory.