Generalized information theory: A review and outlook

Abstract

Information theory was firstly used in communication. With the development of information technology, information theory has exposed its limitations and some generalized information theories were proposed. This study presents a review and discussion of the literature on the generalized information theories. Some viewpoints about the theory are proposed. An outlook of the development of generalized information theory is given. More attention should be put on the reliability and completeness of information. The multiple uncertainties of information cannot be ignored under more general conditions, especially the randomness of probability. We can naturally generalize Shannon's information theory by taking probability as random variable. That may result in a fusion of information theory, Artificial Intelligence (AI), information fusion and other relevant theories. © 2011 Asian Network for Scientific Information.