On the Existence of Information Bottlenecks in Living and Non-Living Systems

In many complex systems, we observe that `interesting behaviour' is often the consequence of a system exploiting the existence of an Information Bottleneck (IB). These bottlenecks can occur at different scales, between individuals or components of a system, and sometimes within individuals themselves. Oftentimes, we regard these bottlenecks negatively; as merely the limitations of the individual's physiology and something that ought to be overcome when designing and implementing artificial systems. However, we suggest instead that IBs may serve a purpose beyond merely providing a minimally-viable channel for coordination in collective systems. More specifically, we suggest that interesting or novel behaviour occurs when the individuals in a system are constrained or limited in their ability to share information and must discover novel ways to exploit existing mechanisms, which are inherently bottlenecked, rather than circumventing or otherwise avoiding those mechanisms entirely.