Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
Reality
(
Dough
)
Modelable Reality Unmodelable Reality
(
Cookie
) (
Hole plus the remaining dough
)
Fig. 5.2
Reality as the complementary union of the
modelable
and
unmodelable
words, a complex system, according to Ricard, is a system that has “more potential
wealth, or more degrees of freedom” than its component sub-systems or displays
“properties that are emergent relative to those of the component sub-systems.” He
represents his idea formally as follows:
H(X
;
Y)
>
H(X)
þ
H(Y)
(5.8)
where H(X,Y) is a mathematical function that describes the properties of a system
XY made up of two sub-systems X and Y, and H(X) and H(Y) are the mathematical
functions that describe the properties of X and Y, respectively. In short, the system
XY is complex because its properties cannot be explained in terms of the sum of the
properties of X and Y.
Since the concept of emergence is intrinsic to any complex system, according to
Ricard, it would follow that the mechanisms of emergence would be synonymous
with the mechanisms of complexification. So, Inequality
5.8
can be re-expressed
using the concept of mechanisms:
Mechanism
X
þ
Y
!
XY
(5.9)
Thus, Process
5.9
can be viewed either as the mechanism of emergence or that of
complexification.
One major difference between Inequality
5.8
and Process
5.9
may be that the
former emphasizes the phenomenological and information-theoretic aspects, while
the latter brings out the mechanisms and kinetic/dynamic aspects of the process of
emergence and complexification that entails dissipation of free energy.
The terms,
complexity, emergence,
and
information
, frequently occur together in
many contemporary discourses in natural, computer, and social sciences, but the
relation among them appears not to have been clearly defined as yet, to the best of
my knowledge. To rigorously define the relation among these terms, it may be
helpful to utilize a table organized according to the triadic metaphysics of Firstness,
Secondness, and Thirdness of C. S. Peirce (see Sect.
6.2
) as shown in Table
5.2
. The
table is constructed on the basis of the assumption that
complexity
can be identified
with Firstness,
emergence
with Secondness, and
information
with Thirdness.
