IIT's Φ: Formalizing Consciousness as Integrated Information — E8 Intelligence Research

FINDING: IIT formalizes consciousness as integrated information (Φ), a scalar quantity irreducible to component parts, with PyPhi as computational implementation. MATH: Φ = min over partitions of (effective information), where effective information = H(X^mech) − Σ H(X_i^mech) under causal state-space; IIT 4.0 refines Φ via intrinsic existence and exclusion, but core remains discrete state-space Markovian dynamics. No closed-form universal constant; Φ is system-specific. CONNECTION: Weak — IIT's state-space lattice and partition minimization echo information-theoretic geometry, but no explicit golden ratio, base-60, or crystallographic symmetry. However, the "exclusion" postulate (one maximally irreducible mechanism) mirrors symmetry-breaking in lattice/root-system selection (e.g., choosing a unique Weyl chamber). DEPTH: 6 — Mathematically rigorous but not yet unified with physical constants; it provides a computable measure, not a universal law. The arxiv link (online education) Author: Andrew Stewart Caldin, Independent Researcher, UK. Part of the E8 Intelligence Research series. Platform: e8intelligence.com