It's a small world

Some Complexity Links.........there are thousands:

www.iscid.org/boards/ubb-get_topic-f-6-t-000321.html

Claude Shannon & information theory:

www.skypoint.com/~gimonca/shannon.html

Some Complexity Links.........there are thousands:

www.iscid.org/boards/ubb-get_topic-f-6-t-000321.html

Claude Shannon & information theory:

www.skypoint.com/~gimonca/shannon.html

Yes, I am familiar with the many forms of complexity there are. My question was which metric you are using to back up your claim that we are the "most complex". In what way are we the most complex and how complex are we?

At the risk of raking over the 'when is a planet not a planet' debate, this really boils down to definitions and comparisons.

Intelligence and complexity could be defined in any number of ways - a car is complex, a box of matches is less complex than a car. A human is more intelligent than a mouse (mostly).

The space shuttle is complex, but how intelligent is it? A microbe is also complex, but what intelligence does it posses?

Humans are complex structures and intelligent enough to figure things out and slip the surly bonds of earth to into space etc. Yes, we only have 1000 tissue types but if I gave you a choice of making either a gear cog or muscle tissue, which one would you be more lilkely to be successful at?

The issue is further comlicated when making comparisons. Yes, a flea can jump higher proportionally than a human but it can't fly a 747?

I guess this is a never ending debate with no solution. But its very interesting nonetheless and the views expressed here are thought provoking.

Keep it up!

Cheers

Dave

When Arthur Eddington was asked if the centre of the Sun was hot enough to sustain nuclear reactions he replied:

"Find me a hotter place".

About the biosphere of the planet Earth we can confidently say:

"Find me a stranger place".

I'll leave it at that !

I think pmgisme says it best when he/she says -

"Find me a stranger place".

When we do, we can discuss the essence of complexity with the inhabitants.

Two very last points:

1. Space Shuttles, and all machines, are simple expressions of the complex Human minds which created them, just as a termites' nest is an expression of the termites' genes.

2. On complexity: It may take centuries before we eke all the biochemical secrets out of the biological world.
We have only scratched the surface.

Complexity = One Single Blade of Grass.

Zen master: pmgisme.