Complexity: Order contra Chaos
James P. Crutchfield · 1989
A concise commentary on observing and modeling complexity within the framework of dynamical systems, information, and computation theories. Deterministic chaos, randomness, order, predictability, uncertainty, and complexity are contrasted. The descriptive abstraction of state is seen to be a natural extension of the symbolization necessary for language and of the number concept. Philosophical consequences of deterministic chaos are noted. Appearing in Handbook of Metaphysics and Ontology Philosophia Verlag, M unich (1989). 1 J. P. Crutchfield Chaos and Complexity Chaos is the deterministic production of behaviour that is unpredictable over long times. Although there are a number of ways to express its defining properties, a simple example will serve to introduce the key considerations in deterministic chaos: the breakdown of predictability, observation of a complex process, and the mathematical effort required to forecast. These have their analogues in the dynamical systems theory...