Complexity has to do with the way in which something can be described mathematically. Something describable in a simple equation is, well, simple. Something describable in a complex one is, more complicated than the other one (obviously I've forgotten the details, but that'll probably do for now).
Thesis: isn't our description is always in part a function of how we interpret what we are looking at?
Suppose someone thinks that the brain is a radiator: wouldn't he or she think that its mathematical description is simpler than would someone who recognizes the brain for what it is? Yes, By several orders of magnitude!
Suppose you were shown a tin bucket full of sand and asked to compare its complexity to that of a human brain: What if you found out later that each pebble in the tin bucket is actually (as long as you don't move it) shaped and situated precisely (to the nearest nanometer) in order to convey (in an ET language that you don't know) the history of the whole cosmos? Wouldn't the same bucket look much more complex than it did before? Possible more complex than the brain? (think of how every nanometer counts...)
Conclusion: quantification is subsequent to the recognition of form, with the latter being teleological! We need to know what a brain and what a bucket of sand are FOR before we can know how to describe and compare them mathematically.
Thesis: isn't our description is always in part a function of how we interpret what we are looking at?
Suppose someone thinks that the brain is a radiator: wouldn't he or she think that its mathematical description is simpler than would someone who recognizes the brain for what it is? Yes, By several orders of magnitude!
Suppose you were shown a tin bucket full of sand and asked to compare its complexity to that of a human brain: What if you found out later that each pebble in the tin bucket is actually (as long as you don't move it) shaped and situated precisely (to the nearest nanometer) in order to convey (in an ET language that you don't know) the history of the whole cosmos? Wouldn't the same bucket look much more complex than it did before? Possible more complex than the brain? (think of how every nanometer counts...)
Conclusion: quantification is subsequent to the recognition of form, with the latter being teleological! We need to know what a brain and what a bucket of sand are FOR before we can know how to describe and compare them mathematically.
Comments