What is complexity?
One of the most useful advantages of careful philosophical looks at difficult and novel concepts such as ``complexity'' is that they can significantly clarify the intuitive ideas of concepts we believe we already understand. E.g., they prompt reevaluations of ``computational complexity'' or ``algorithmic information content'' with careful examinations of processing time and storage space. I.e., they motivate the study of the geometry of logic in the context of the geometry of (storage) space and (processing) time. In this brief popularized discussion of complexity and simplicity the author, a Nobel laureate, condenses and summarizes many notions from his outstanding book ``The Quark and the Jaguar'' (1994; Zbl 0833.00011). One gets the impression that the author is reinventing physics with far more emphasis on the world of entropy than on the world of energy. But he has not found the complementary equation to \(E= mc^2\), yet! Indeed, only time will tell whether such a thing is done at the author's Santa Fe Institute, the Center for Complex Systems at the University of Illinois or elsewhere.
scientific article; zbMATH DE number 1038589
scientific article