Algorithmic Specified Complexity in the Game of Life
Winston Ewert, William A. Dembski, Robert J. Marks · IEEE Transactions on Systems Man and Cybernetics Systems · 2014
Algorithmic specified complexity (ASC) measures the degree to which an object is meaningful. Neither fundamental Shannon nor Kolmogorov information models are equipped to do so. ASC uses performance context in an information theoretic framework to measure the degree of specified complexity in bits. To illustrate, we apply ASC to Conway's Game of Life to differentiate patterns designed by programmers from those originating by chance. A variety of machines created by Game of Life hobbyists, as expected, exhibit high ASC thereby corroborating ASC's efficacy.