From complexity to life: on the emergence of life and meaning

256 Pages·2002·1.47 MB·English

by  Niels Henrik Gregersen

From Complexity to Life:

On the Emergence of

Life and Meaning

Niels Henrik Gregersen,
Editor
OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS
From Complexity to Life
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FROM

COMPLEXITY

TO LIFE

On the Emergence of
Life and Meaning
Edited by
Niels Henrik Gregersen
1

2003
3

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Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

From complexity to life : on the emergence of life and meaning / edited by Niels

Henrik Gregersen.

p. cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-19-515070-8

1. Religion and science—Congresses. 2. Complexity (Philosophy)—Congresses.

I. Gregersen, Niels Henrik, 1956–

BL240.3 .F76 2002

501—dc21 2001052389

2 4 6 8 9 7 5 3 1
Printed in the United States of America
on acid free paper
two

acknowle dgme nts

This volume of essays came out of a research symposium, “Complex­
ity, Information, and Design: A Critical Appraisal,” held in Santa Fe,
New Mexico, on October 14–16, 1999. Led by the physicist Paul
Davies, 10 mathematicians, physicists, theoretical biologists, and theo­
logians met under the aegis of the John Templeton Foundation in order
to explore the broader issues raised by information theory and com­
plexity studies, in particular their impact on our worldview and sense
of meaning.
We wish to thank the John Templeton Foundation for its sustained
interest in the field of complexity research, an interest also marked by
the presence of Sir John Templeton and the executive director of the
Foundation, Dr. Charles L. Harper, at the Santa Fe symposium. We
owe a special thanks to senior fellow Dr. Mary Ann Meyers, who
coorganized the symposium and helped the editorial process with her
characteristic blend of efficiency and humor.
While acknowledging that we are only beginning to understand, we
hope that we have been able to summarize some key elements in re­
cent research and to provide a road map for future investigations into
metaphysical questions related to complexity studies.
Chapter 2, Gregory J. Chaitin, “Randomness and Mathematical
Proof,” originally apeared in Scientific American 232 (May 1975): 47–
52. Chapter 3, Charles Bennett, “How to Define Complexity in Physics
and Why,” originally appeared in SFI Studies in the Sciences of Complex­
ity, vol. 8, ed. W. H. Zurek (Reading, Mass.: Addison Wesley, 1990):
vi acknowledgments
137–148. Chapter 4, Stuart Kauffman, “The Emergence of Autono­
mous Agents,” originally appeared as chapter 1 in Kauffman, Investiga­
tions (New York: Oxford University Press, 2001), and has been slightly
abbreviated and modified.
Aarhus, Denmark
June 16, 2001 N. H. G.
two

conte nts

Contributors ix

1. Introduction: Toward an Emergentist Worldview 3

Paul Davies
PART I DEFINING COMPLEXITY
2. Randomness and Mathematical Proof 19

Gregory J. Chaitin
3. How to Define Complexity in Physics, and Why 34

Charles H. Bennett
PART II THE CONCEPT OF INFORMATION
IN PHYSICS AND BIOLOGY
4. The Emergence of Autonomous Agents 47

Stuart Kauffman
5. Complexity and the Arrow of Time 72

Paul Davies
6. Can Evolutionary Algorithms Generate

Specified Complexity? 93

William A. Dembski
7. The Second Law of Gravitics and the Fourth

Law of Thermodynamics 114

Ian Stewart
8. Two Arrows from a Mighty Bow 151

Werner R. Loewenstein
viii contents
PART III PHILOSOPHICAL AND RELIGIOUS
PERSPECTIVES
9. Emergence of Transcendence 177

Harold J. Morowitz
10. Complexity, Emergence, and Divine Creativity 187

Arthur Peacocke
11. From Anthropic Design to Self-Organized

Complexity 206

Niels Henrik Gregersen
Index 235
two

contributor s

CHARLES H. BENNET is senior scientist at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson
Research Center in Yorktown Heights, New York. He coinvented
quantum cryptography and is a codiscoverer of the quantum tele­
portation effect. In his many research papers he has done ground­
breaking work on the definition of the “logical depth” of complex
objects.
GREGORY J. CHAITIN is at IBM’s Thomas J. Watson Research Center
in Yorktown Heights, New York, and is also an honorary professor at
the University of Buenos Aires and a visiting professor at the Univer­
sity of Auckland. He is a principal architect of algorithmic information
theory, and the discoverer of the celebrated Omega number. His books
include Algorithmic Information Theory (1987), The Limits of Mathematics
(1998), The Unknowable (1999), Exploring Randomness (2001), and Con­
versations with a Mathematician (2002).
PAUL DAVIES has held chairs at the University of Newcastle-upon-
Tyne, England, and at the University of Adelaide, Australia, and is
currently visiting professor at Imperial College, London. Apart from
his scientific work in the field of quantum gravity and cosmology, he
has written many bestselling books on the philosophy of nature, es­
pecially physics. In his most recent book, The Fifth Dimension: The
Search for the Origin of Life (1998), he examines the source of biologi­
cal information.
ix