A peer-reviewed mathematical proof published by a KAUST co-led international research team in PLOS has shown that the recently published Assembly Theory (AT) approximates existing theories of algorithmic complexity and information compression. The findings cast doubt on some of the new theory’s claims to explain a range of natural phenomena from biology and evolution to physics, the Universe, and even the search for extraterrestrial life.

“We were motivated to study AT because of its broad claims and widespread misconceptions regarding information compression, computability and algorithmic complexity, which have been the focus of our group’s research for over a decade,” says Jesper Tegner from KAUST’s Living Systems Lab, who, along with Hector Zenil of King’s College London, led the research team. “AT’s attraction lies in its interdisciplinary appeal, offering the idea of a unified framework that could potentially quantify complexity across various domains, in particularly selection and evolution, and solve longstanding problems. So, we set out to rigorously scrutinize AT’s claims, particularly regarding its novelty.”

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