Complexity
Gell-Mann
Paz, Octavio
Murray Gell-Mann; theoretical physicist at California Institute of Technology
author of The Quark and the Jaguar
"There would seem to be an enormous gap between fundamental physics and… the evolution of terrestrial life and human culture."
"…moreover, they deal with history and with the kind of evolution undergone by biological species or human languages or cultures."
"the fundamental quantum mechanical laws of physics really do give rise to individuality."
"what distinguishes complex adaptive systems, which undergo processes like learning and biological evolution, from evolving systems (such as galaxies and stars) that are non adaptive."
| Quark | Jaguar | |
| inorganic evolution | vs | organic coevolution |
| "the quark symbolizes the | "The jaguar stands for | |
| simple basic physical laws | the complexity of the | |
| that govern the universe | all the matter in it." | |
| and world around us…" | coevolve |
"In order to discuss more fully the concept of effective complexity,
it is essential to examine in detail the nature of complex
adaptive systems."
"Here on Earth -- the emergence of complex adaptive systems -- was associated with the origin of terrestrial life and with the process of biological evolution…"
Language
Noam Chomsky and his followers conclude that the child must come already equipped at birth with a great deal of information applicable to the grammar of any natural human language.
"a biologically evolved innate proclivity to speak languages with certain general grammatical features, shared by all natural human languages."language is shaped by and reshapes the environment in which it is used.
"the child who does this (putting a grammar together from hearing language spoken) has exhibited the first characteristic of a complex adaptive system."
"Since a complex adaptive system separates regularities from randomness, it affords the possibility of defining complexity in terms of the length of the schema used by a complex adaptive system to describe and predict the properties of an incoming data stream."
"it has been genetically programmed as a result of biological evolution. All organisms have such programs."
(61)
"But biological evolution itself can also be described as a complex adaptive system, even in the humblest organisms."
(61)
Bacteria developing drug resistance …
"In a sense, the larger eddies gave birth to smaller."
(64)
Theoretical physicist, Murray Gell-Mann: Born 1929
American physicist who received the 1969 Nobel Prize in physics for his work on the theory of elementary particles (now explained in the Quark model). Known to have kept the string theory alive through the 70's. Received the Albert Einstein Award in 2005, along with the humanist of the year award.
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