The Past and the Future in the Present

James P. Crutchfield and Christopher J. Ellison

Complexity Sciences Center
Physics Department
University of California at Davis
Davis, CA 95616

ABSTRACT: We show how the shared information between the past and future—the excess entropy—derives from the components of directional information stored in the present—the predictive and retrodictive causal states. A detailed proof allows us to highlight a number of the subtle problems in estimation and analysis that impede accurate calculation of the excess entropy.


James P. Crutchfield and Christopher J. Ellison, "The Past and the Future in the Present", (2010) submitted.
[pdf] 395 KB
Santa Fe Institute Working Paper 10-12-XXX.
arXiv:1012.0356 [nlin.CD].