From: bear@sonic.net   
      
   Fogus wrote:   
   >   
   > While reading Norvig's AI: A Modern Approach, 2nd Ed. (chapter 16) it   
   > is mentioned that the value of information is nonnegative... however,   
   > the reasoning behind this eludes me.  Can anyone illustrate why this   
   > is?   
   >   
      
   You have basically two possibilities.  Either something provides no   
   information, or it provides some information.   
      
   The idea of providing negative information seems to invoke an idea of   
   providing information that's negatively correlated with the truth.   
      
   But a correlation - any correlation - provides useful information.   
   Positive or negative correlation doesn't matter; you should be   
   determining its correlation factor (or information coefficient)   
   based on the data, so the information provided is always positive.   
      
   If something provides information that actually harms your   
   ability to draw conclusions (which negative information would)   
   then it would mean your process of analyzing the information and   
   drawing conclusions was both wrong and corrigible.   
      
   				Bear   
      
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