Integrated Information Theory (IIT) is an interdisciplinary theoretical framework developed by Giulio Tononi in his quest to understand consciousness. IIT hypothesizes that consciousness is associated with a certain kind of information integration, and suggests that an object can be conscious if and only if it is characterized by a maximally “rich” integrated information state, determined by structured interrelations between elements in the system. The theory also suggests that consciousness results from the combined interactions among different parts of a behavior-generating circuit, rather than simply from neurochemical processes. IIT can be used to study the fundamentals of consciousness and to explore fascinating questions about the nature and origin of consciousness.

See also: emergence, evolutionary computing, causality, evolution