There are information theoretic aspects behind this. You're essentially searching the design space for the fittest and want a fast way to get your answer -- thi

There are information theoretic aspects behind this. You're essentially searching the design space for the fittest and want a fast way to get your answer -- this 'fastest way' is related to the way that 'grants' maximum information. I say this because this reminded me of a wonderful (and acessible) discussion I once glanced over on the following book: http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~mackay/itprnn/book.pdf http://www.cs.toronto.edu/~mackay/itprnn/book.pdf (Page 269, pdf 281) -- it offers answers to this sort of question :)