Gell-Mann's proposal was a little vague. I have a more detailed explication in "On Complexity and Emergence", (available from my web page and other select internet outlets) and indeed I consider the property of emergence to be the crucial characteristic of complex systems. Without emergence, algorithmic complexity doesn't really measure anything useful from a systemic point of view.
Cheers On Sat, Jul 22, 2006 at 12:09:10PM -0600, Michael Agar wrote: > I'm just back from a week's work in Baltimore on a project to > research and improve treatment entry and engagement among narcotics > addicts. Reason they invite me is because the characteristics of > complex co-evolutionary systems help them see, understand and act on > the problem in new and more effective (we all hope, evaluation to > come) ways. It's less a measure of complexity and more a phase > transition in perception and action on the part of human actors who > are part of the system. > > What about algorithmic complexity, the measure suggested by Gell- > Mann, I think it was? It won't offer an in or out, necessary and > sufficient condition measure, but rather a "more or less" evaluation > that allows translation between system patterns and computer code. > The code is then the measure. > > Mike > > > On Jul 22, 2006, at 11:36 AM, Owen Densmore wrote: > > > At yesterday's FRIAM, I mentioned the Chaos has the luxury of > > reasonably formal techniques, much lacking in Complexity. My point > > was that there was an "inclusion principal" for chaos .. a way to > > partition processes into those that are chaotic and those that are > > not. And naturally, neither set is null. > > > > The technique used in Chaos is the Lyapunov exponent: > > http://hypertextbook.com/chaos/43.shtml > > http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lyapunov_exponent > > > > A similar measure, as far as I know, is not available for description > > of Complex systems .. one that offers a solution to the inclusion > > principal for Complex processes. > > > > BTW: We were having difficulty remembering the name of the author of > > one of the more popular books. I believe we were searching for > > Robert Devaney. He is editor of the Studies in Nonlinearity series > > of books, which includes a rather interesting one by Brian Davies > > which has a wonderful set of Java applications/applets for exploring > > chaos .. a sort of lab if you will. > > > > -- Owen > > > > Owen Densmore > > http://backspaces.net - http://redfish.com - http://friam.org > > > > > > > > ============================================================ > > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org > > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org -- *PS: A number of people ask me about the attachment to my email, which is of type "application/pgp-signature". Don't worry, it is not a virus. It is an electronic signature, that may be used to verify this email came from me if you have PGP or GPG installed. Otherwise, you may safely ignore this attachment. ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- A/Prof Russell Standish Phone 8308 3119 (mobile) Mathematics 0425 253119 (") UNSW SYDNEY 2052 [EMAIL PROTECTED] Australia http://parallel.hpc.unsw.edu.au/rks International prefix +612, Interstate prefix 02 ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
