informon

Informon is a term used in various speculative and theoretical contexts to denote a discrete unit of information. It is not a standard term in established information theory, and its exact meaning differs by author or discipline. Broadly, an informon is described as a minimal parcel of information that represents a state, event, or meaning and that can be transmitted, stored, or processed within a system.

In cognitive and computational models, informons function as the atomic units of information flow, combining into more complex representations and enabling the description of information dynamics. In some speculative physics or digital physics frameworks, informons are proposed as fundamental informational building blocks of reality, though these ideas are controversial and not supported by empirical consensus. In software or data provenance discussions, informon-like records may refer to event descriptions carrying metadata about state changes.

Because the term has no universal definition, it is important to consult the source material to understand how informon is used in a given context. Variants and related concepts include information token, information unit, and event descriptor.

See also: information unit, token, event descriptor, provenance.