[Abstract for a 1-2 hour brief public talk intended for technically savvy but general audience, introducing the idea of Broad Information Theory]

Human knowledge is divided into different domains such as physics, biology, economics, and ecology. Across these domains we sometimes observe that systems are organized in repeated architectural patterns. Often, for example, large entities are built out of many smaller similar elements which have their own sophisticated function. Bodies are built of cells, corporations are assembled of workers, and ecological populations are composed of individual plants and animals. We can posit that this repeated pattern exists to solve similar informational problems, such as sustaining the larger entity’s function when individual elements are damaged or destroyed. Broad information theory (BIT) is a new synthetic field that categorizes and explores informational patterns across domains of knowledge to identify general informational problems and their solutions. BIT allows us to systematically solve problems in one domain by drawing on solutions from another, accelerating the pace of innovation.