Need for Simplicity and Everything Is a Matter of Degree: How Zadeh’s Philosophy is Related to Kolmogorov Complexity, Quantum Physics, and Deep Learning

Many people remember Lofti Zadeh’s mantra—that everything is a matter of degree. This was one of the main principles behind fuzzy logic. What is somewhat less remembered is that Zadeh also used another important principle—that there is a need for simplicity. In this paper, we show that together, these two principles can generate the main ideas behind such various subjects as Kolmogorov complexity, quantum physics, and deep learning. We also show that these principles can help provide a better understanding of an important notion of space-time causality.