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Origin of synergistic structure in random systems

Explain the mechanism by which random or near-random dynamical systems can exhibit negative O-information (synergy), clarifying how high-order statistical structure arises despite randomness typically implying independence.

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Background

The results show random Boolean networks have O-information values significantly less than zero, suggesting a link between randomness and synergistic high-order interactions. Prior work indicates that dynamical noise can increase synergy, but a general explanation for how synergy emerges from randomness remains unresolved.

The authors explicitly state that the nature of this phenomenon is mysterious, highlighting the need to identify the source of high-order structure in random systems.

References

The nature of this think remains mysterious, as randomness is typically associated with independence (and by extension, minimal O-information).

— Evolving higher-order synergies reveals a trade-off between stability and information integration capacity in complex systems (2401.14347 - Varley et al., 25 Jan 2024) in Discussion