If the brain were so simple: Information-based drivers of intelligence and their interaction through an n-body-inspired framework
Abstract
Theories of how the brain processes information and returns intelligent outputs are numerous and often difficult to conclusively test. Here, we consider an approach grounded in informatics and algorithmic thermodynamics for how neural systems respond to different patterns of information in different ways, with a focus on the relationship between the information entropy of a signal and a new proposed quantity we term information enthalpy, which represents the internal resource of structured information within a system available to be used for predictions and other forms of work. To evaluate the capacity of the external signals to increase information enthalpy in the system, we introduce the information enthalpy potential (IEP) as a defined metric. We propose and implement a method for quantifying the amount of potential information enthalpy - the IEP - in a given signal across a range of example signals. We offer a conjecture of how information enthalpy may be treated by neural systems within a biological framework before showing how it may integrate and offer falsifiability to existing approaches such as the Free Energy Principle. This framework is also positioned in light of the role of neural criticality. Finally, we postulate a testable and falsifiable framework where the distinct mechanisms within each driver interact through a described n-body-inspired model to govern the "motion" of a neural system through a high dimensional state-space. Through these processes, it is proposed that these features form the most fundamental basis of the neural drivers that give rise to the complexity of adaptive behaviors that are commonly called: intelligence.
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BibTeX
@misc{kagan2026brain,
title = {{If the brain were so simple: Information-based drivers of intelligence and their interaction through an n-body-inspired framework}},
author = {Brett J. Kagan and Johnson Zhou and Forough Habibollahi and Valentina Baccetti},
howpublished = {arXiv},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.48550/arxiv.2610.11142},
eprint = {2610.11142},
archivePrefix = {arXiv},
url = {https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.11142},
note = {CC BY-NC-ND 4.0},
}
RIS
TY - UNPB
TI - If the brain were so simple: Information-based drivers of intelligence and their interaction through an n-body-inspired framework
AU - Brett J. Kagan
AU - Johnson Zhou
AU - Forough Habibollahi
AU - Valentina Baccetti
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/08
PB - arXiv
DO - 10.48550/arxiv.2610.11142
UR - https://arxiv.org/abs/2610.11142
AB - Theories of how the brain processes information and returns intelligent outputs are numerous and often difficult to conclusively test. Here, we consider an approach grounded in informatics and algorithmic thermodynamics for how neural systems respond to different patterns of information in different ways, with a focus on the relationship between the information entropy of a signal and a new proposed quantity we term information enthalpy, which represents the internal resource of structured information within a system available to be used for predictions and other forms of work. To evaluate the capacity of the external signals to increase information enthalpy in the system, we introduce the information enthalpy potential (IEP) as a defined metric. We propose and implement a method for quantifying the amount of potential information enthalpy - the IEP - in a given signal across a range of example signals. We offer a conjecture of how information enthalpy may be treated by neural systems within a biological framework before showing how it may integrate and offer falsifiability to existing approaches such as the Free Energy Principle. This framework is also positioned in light of the role of neural criticality. Finally, we postulate a testable and falsifiable framework where the distinct mechanisms within each driver interact through a described n-body-inspired model to govern the "motion" of a neural system through a high dimensional state-space. Through these processes, it is proposed that these features form the most fundamental basis of the neural drivers that give rise to the complexity of adaptive behaviors that are commonly called: intelligence.
ER -