An information-theoretic optimality principle for the formation of abstractions

ions and hierarchies • Why are abstractions important? • Separation of structure from noise (instance variation) • Fast information processing (only relevant information) • Extraction of transferrable knowledge • What role do hierarchies play? • Invariants on multiple different scales (temporal, spatial, ...) • Different levels of abstraction – leads to hierarchical organization • Often hierarchical models are “handcrafted” or formed through heuristics • “Self-organization” of hierarchies derived from first principles? 2