[FRIAM] new math of complexity

Jochen Fromm jofr at cas-group.net
Thu Jun 13 17:36:58 EDT 2024


The paper from Rosas et al begins with the sentence "Complex systems — such as the global economy, the global weather, and the human brain — are composed of many elements whose intricate dynamical interactions give rise to distinct phenomena at various spatio-temporal scales"https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.09090Do you think their framework is useful to explain any of these systems? For example can it explain the dry lines from Nick?-J.
-------- Original message --------From: steve smith <sasmyth at swcp.com> Date: 6/13/24  10:49 PM  (GMT+01:00) To: friam at redfish.com Subject: Re: [FRIAM] new math of complexity 
    Sara Walker: 
    
        "We only see emergence because we can't see time."   
    
    triggers thoughts of space-time "objects" and the hashlife
      constructs...
    
    On 6/13/24 1:57 PM, Marcus Daniels
      wrote:
    
    
      
      
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        Meanwhile
            there are semantic parsing systems like Boxer and MRS/ERG
            that represent natural language in a symbolic way. 
             Evolutionary algorithms run on digital computers and large
            language models that encode and interpolate metaphors. 
         
        
          
            From:
                Friam <friam-bounces at redfish.com> On Behalf Of
                steve smith
                Sent: Thursday, June 13, 2024 12:42 PM
                To: friam at redfish.com
                Subject: Re: [FRIAM] new math of complexity
          
        
         
        Up to some strong interpretations of QM "physics is
          deterministic but not pre-stateable" is the ground I usually
          stand on.   I don't need to invoke non-determinism to believe
          in open-ended complexity...   combinatoric (roughly factorial)
          arithmetic overwhhelms counting, additive, multiplicative,
          even exponential  arithmetic?  
        I am very sympathetic with your (daveW) conceit that
          evolution can do things which engineering generally has not,
          though I think it is the simple amount of (combinatoric)
          complexity of the "search" algorithm?   I would claim that our
          technosphere is significantly "evolved" but on top of our
          "engineering" efforts, though some might argue that with the
          exception of a few exceptionally significant "engineers" like
          Archimedes and Da Vinci, most of our technological development
          before the age of enlightenment or the industrial revolution,
          actually was an evolutionary process (cut and try).
        It might be a coincidence but I just happened to dial up the
          latest Lex Fridman interview with Sara Walker ( https://search.asu.edu/profile/1731899
          ) who some may know through her role as associate director of
          the ASU-SFI
            Center for Biosocial Complex Systems.  
            
          
        She
            starts out with simple Materialist/Vitalist contrasts but
            alludes (nearly) to Marcus latest snark: "
            Simulate from first principles:  https://www.vasp.at/"
        
            
          
        
          On 6/13/24 7:11 AM, Prof David West
            wrote:
        
        
          
            Naive,
                but honest question:
          
          
             
          
          
            Can a
                computer program be "complex?"  Jochen seems to assert
                so, "Every developer knows that each piece of code
                  which is added makes the system more complex." I
                would say no, it only makes it more complicated.
          
          
             
          
          
            My
                answer is partially based on the fact that code must
                execute on a deterministic machine and the code itself
                (at least its compiled self) is nothing more than a
                virtual machine, still a deterministic system. Even the
                source code is a context free grammar, so none of the
                things that make natural language complex (context
                sensitivity, metaphor, interpolation) prevail. Otherwise
                the code would not work?
          
          
             
          
          
            A
                secondary motivation for asking, I am working on an
                extended monograph/book on how to intentionally 'evolve'
                complex systems like a business and the software that
                supports it,or ULS ( https://insights.sei.cmu.edu/library/ultra-large-scale-systems-the-software-challenge-of-the-future/
                ), i.e., systems that cannot be
                "engineered."
          
          
             
          
          
            davew
          
          
             
          
          
             
          
          
            On Wed, Jun 12, 2024, at 5:30 PM,
              Jochen Fromm wrote:
          
          
            Emergence as a kind of “software in
              the natural world"? If we mean code by it, then yes,
              certainly. Every developer knows that each piece of code
              which is added makes the system more complex. Therefore we
              usually try to keep it simple. For biological systems it
              is the DNA code. For cultural systems it is the hidden
              code people do not want to talk about because everything
              related to it is sacred (at least for the group which it
              defines). The knights templar had their own code, the
              order of the cistercians, the Franciscans and the other
              religious orders and organizations as well. 
            
               
            
            Cults and sects have their code (
              which can be simple political slogans such as "Make Your
              Country Great Again", "Build the wall" and "Lock them up"
              or simply "Do not criticize the supreme leader"). Criminal
              organizations have their code. Ideologies and political
              parties have their code. Behind every complex organism or
              organization there seems to be some form of code or DNA
              that generates and maintains it. 
            
               
            
            Whenever something is happening in
              nature it is either supper or pairing time. Obviously 
              because the underlying "selfish" code has created bodies
              which have the directive to maintain and replicate
              themselves. If we look at cultural systems, for instance
              at political conventions or at religious congregations,
              then we notice that every time something is really
              happening at a larger scale is that the code becomes
              active. People come together to read or express laws,
              rules, guidelines and policies.
             
            So I would say yes, if there is a
              secret then it is the code. Definitely. Is there a new math for it? IMO it is
                quite hard to formulate the expression of such a code in
                general mathematically. For example how can you describe
                mathematically if the speech of a president or party
                leader or priest has bigger consequences or not? It is
                at least as complicated as calculating a path integral
                in Quantum Field Theory.
             
            What might
                be possible is to calculate a probability how a group
                behavior changes depending how frequent a rule is read,
                remembered and expressed.
             
            -J.
             
            
               
            
            
              --------
                  Original message --------
            
            
              From: Roger
                  Critchlow <rec at elf.org>
            
            
              Date:
                  6/12/24 8:05 PM (GMT+01:00)
            
            
              To: The
                  Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <Friam at redfish.com>
            
            
              Subject:
                  [FRIAM] new math of complexity
            
            
               
            
            
              
                Speaking of emergence, any takes on
                  Phillip Ball's article in Quanta?
              
              
                 
              
              
                https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-new-math-of-how-large-scale-order-emerges-20240610/
              
              
                 
              
              
                I really liked his summary of the
                  current non-explanations for emergence, but I haven't
                  had time to read further.
              
              
                 
              
              
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