Differentiate IIT’s intrinsic information from extrinsic/message-like information

Determine to what extent the notion of intrinsic information in Integrated Information Theory 4.0—defined in terms of a system’s difference it takes and makes over itself and operationalized via the ii measure—comes apart from extrinsic or message-like notions of information such as Shannon information or message content, specifying the degree of divergence between these conceptions.

Background

Integrated Information Theory (IIT) 4.0 emphasizes intrinsic information, characterized by the difference a system takes and makes over itself and quantified by the measure ii, in contrast to extrinsic notions like Shannon information or message-based information. The theory intends a principled separation between these conceptions to ground phenomenal properties in intrinsic causal structure.

The authors note that despite formal postulates for intrinsic information and integration, it is unsettled how cleanly intrinsic information, as defined by IIT 4.0, genuinely diverges from extrinsic/message-like information. Clarifying this separation is important for interpreting IIT’s claims about consciousness being determined solely by intrinsic causal powers.