Abstract
The predictability of many complex systems is limited by computational irreducibility, but we argue that the nature of computational irreducibility varies across physical, biological and human social systems. We suggest that the computational irreducibility of biological and social systems is distinguished from physical systems by functional contingency, biological evolution, and individual variation. In physical systems, computationally irreducibility is driven by the interactions, sometimes nonlinear, of many different system components (e.g., particles, atoms, planets). Biological systems can also be computationally irreducible because of nonlinear interactions of a large number of system components (e.g., gene networks, cells, individuals). Biological systems additionally create the probability space into which the system moves: Biological evolution creates new biological attributes, stores this accumulated information in an organism’s genetic code, allows for individual genetic and phenotypic variation among interacting agents, and selects for the functionality of these biological attributes in a contextually dependent manner. Human social systems are biological systems that include these same processes, but whose computational irreducibility arises as well from sentience, i.e., the conscious perception of the adjacent possible, that drives social evolution of culture, governance, and technology. Human social systems create their own adjacent possible through the creativity of sentience, and accumulate and store this information culturally, as reflected in the emergence and evolution of, for example, technology. The changing nature of computational irreducibility results in a loss of predictability as one moves from physical to biological to human social systems, but also creates a rich and enchanting range of dynamics.
Access provided by Autonomous University of Puebla. Download to read the full chapter text
Chapter PDF
Similar content being viewed by others
References
Arora, S., Barak, B.: Computational Complexity: A Modern Approach (2009) ISBN 0521424267
Bateson, G.: Steps to an ecology of mind (1972) ISBN 0876689500
Beckage, B., Gross, L., Kauffman, S.: The limits to prediction in ecological systems. Ecosphere 2(11), 125 (2011), doi:10.1890/ES11-00211.1
Beckage, B., Gross, L., Platt, W., Godsoe, W., Simberloff, D.: Individual variation and weak neutrality as determinants of species diversity. Frontiers of Biogeography 3(4), 145–155 (2012)
Berlinski, D.: The advent of the algorithm: the idea that rules the world (2000) ISBN 0756761662
Bock, W.J.: Explanatory history of the origin of feathers. American Zoologist 40, 478–485 (2000)
Clark, J.S.: Individuals and the variation needed for high species diversity in forest frees. Science 327, 1129–1132 (2010)
Cooper, B.: The incomputable reality. Nature 482, 465–465 (2012)
Croll, D.A., Maron, J.L., Estes, J.A., Danner, E.M., Byrd, G.V.: Introduced Predators Transform Subarctic Islands from Grassland to Tundra. Science 307, 1959–1961 (2005)
Dyson, G.: The dawn of computing. Nature 482, 459–460 (2012)
French, R.M.: Dusting Off the Turing Test. Science 336, 164–165 (2012)
Gibson, J.J.: The Theory of Affordances. In: Shaw, R., Bransford, J. (eds.) Perceiving, Acting, and Knowing (1977) ISBN 0-470-99014-7
Gilbert, N., Conte, R.: Artificial Societies: The Computer Simulation of Social Life. UCL Press, London (1995)
Grimm, V., Railsback, S.F.: Individual-based modeling and ecology. Princeton University Press (2005)
Hodges, A.: The man behind the machine. Nature 482, 441–441 (2012)
Holland, J.H.: Genetic algorithms. Scientific American, 44–50 (1992) ISSN 0036-8733
Holland, J.H.: Adaptation in Natural and Artificial Systems (1975) ISBN 0472084607
Israeli, N., Goldenfeld, N.: Computational Irreducibility and the Predictability of Complex Physical Systems. Physical Review Letters 92, 074105 (2004)
Israeli, N., Goldenfeld, N.: Coarse-graining of cellular automata, emergence, and the predictability of complex systems. Physical Review E 73, 026203 (2006)
Karl, T.R., Trenberth, K.E.: What is climate change? In: Lovejoy, T.E., Hannah, L.J. (eds.) Climate Change and Biodiversity. Yale University Press, New Haven (2005)
Kasting, J.F.: Theoretical constraints on oxygen and carbon dioxide concentrations in the Precambrian atmosphere. Precambrian Research 34, 205–229 (1987)
Koliba, C., Meek, J., Zia, A.: Governance networks in public administration and public policy. CRC Press/Taylor & Francis, Boca Raton, FL (2010)
Letiche, H., Lissack, M.: Making Room for Affordances. Emergence: Complexity and Organization (E:CO) 11(3), 61–72 (2009) ISSN 1532-7000
Longo, G., Montvil, M., Kauffman, S.: No entailing laws, but enablement in the evolution of the biosphere. arXiv:1201.2069v1 [q-bio.OT] (2012)
McAtee, W.L.: Distribution of Seeds by Birds. American Midland Naturalist 38, 214–223 (1947)
Mercier, H., Sperber, D.: Why do humans reason? Arguments for an argumentative theory. Behavioral and Brain Sciences 34(2), 57–74 (2011)
Morin, X., Lechowicz, M.J., Auspurger, C., O’Keefe, J., Viner, D., Chuine, I.: Leaf phenology in 22 North American tree species during the 21st century. Global Change Biology 15, 961–975 (2009)
Nisbet, E.G., Sleep, N.H.: The habitat and nature of early life. Nature 409, 1083–1091 (2001)
Perry, S.F., Wilson, R.J., Straus, C., Harris, M.B., Remmers, J.E.: Which came first, the lung or the breath? Comp. Biochem. Physiol. A Mol. Integr. Physiol. 129(1), 37–47 (2001)
Rutten, M.G.: The history of atmospheric oxygen. Origins of Life and Evolution of Biospheres 2, 5–17 (1970)
Schwarzschild, K.: Uber das gravitationsfeld eines massenpunktes nach der Einsteinschen theorie. Sitzungsberichte der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Klasse fur Mathematik, Physik, und Technik, p. 189 (1916a)
Schwarzschild, K.: Uber das Gravitationsfeld einer Kugel aus inkompressibler Flussigkeit nach der Einsteinschen Theorie. Sitzungsberichte der Deutschen Akademie der Wissenschaften zu Berlin, Klasse fur Mathematik, Physik, und Technik, p. 424 (1916b)
Sumida, S.S., Brochu, C.A.: Phylogenetic Context for the Origin of Feathers. American Zoologist 40, 486–503 (2000)
Turing, A.M.: On computable numbers, with an application to the Entscheidungsproblem. Proc. Lond. Math. Soc. 42(2), 230–265 (1936); correction ibid 43, 544–546 (1937)
Wolfram, S.: A New Kind of Science. Wolfram Media, Urbana
Author information
Authors and Affiliations
Editor information
Editors and Affiliations
Rights and permissions
Copyright information
© 2013 Springer-Verlag Berlin Heidelberg
About this chapter
Cite this chapter
Beckage, B., Kauffman, S., Gross, L.J., Zia, A., Koliba, C. (2013). More Complex Complexity: Exploring the Nature of Computational Irreducibility across Physical, Biological, and Human Social Systems. In: Zenil, H. (eds) Irreducibility and Computational Equivalence. Emergence, Complexity and Computation, vol 2. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35482-3_7
Download citation
DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-642-35482-3_7
Publisher Name: Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg
Print ISBN: 978-3-642-35481-6
Online ISBN: 978-3-642-35482-3
eBook Packages: EngineeringEngineering (R0)