With that I mean a function that can be optimized. If acceleration is about the unrelentless strive to higher forms of intelligence, technology, or general progress, it can be seen as some form of compression.

Or less general. A smarter AI is able to compress more facts or thruths about the world than a dumber AI does. A smarter universe henceforth is able to compress more facts or truths about itself than a dumber universe.