framework
active
framework:complexity-theoryComplexity Theory
The class of explanations from the Santa Fe Institute tradition, including attractor dynamics and emergent order, evaluated as insufficient to fully explain the appearance of living structure
Neighborhood — ranked by edge-count
Thinkers (3)
thinker
- Stuart Kauffmanstudies
- Brian GoodwinstudiesBiologist whose morphogenetic work on Acetabularia demonstrated that form generation arises from geometric and dynamic principles rather than primarily genetic control.
- Ilya Prigoginestudies
Concepts (1)
concept
- Attractor in State-Spaceassociated_withSmall regions in dynamical system state-space to which complex systems converge; cited from complexity theory as partial but insufficient explanation for living structure
Claims (1)
claim
- Alexander's critical assessment of the limits of current complexity science relative to his explanatory target
Chapters (1)
chapter
- The opening chapter of The Process of Creating Life, arguing that a principle of unfolding wholeness governs the emergence of living structure in nature
Frameworks (1)
framework
- The principle that every natural process is governed by a step-by-step unfolding where each step preserves the structure of the wholeness, introduced in Chapter 1 and elaborated here.
Related by similarity (8)
cosine ≥ 0.65 · no typed edgeEntities in the same semantic neighborhood but without a typed relation to this one — candidates for new edges or unrecognized duplicates.
- Foundational framework consisting of systems (wires), processes (boxes), and composition (wirings); basis for quantum and compositional reasoning.
- Thesis that complexity of environment drives cognitive evolution; mentioned in relation to sensorimotor organization.
- Framework treating phenomena as information flows and exchanges; adopted by Friedman and others to model design as informational process.
- Flusser’s category of complexity where the system elements have very complex internal relationships (like apparatus).
- Cognitive capacity attributed to humans and animals; referenced as basis for mentalism intuitions.
- Fundamental mathematical tool; poset-as-category provides simple instances of categorical notions like products and adjunctions.
- The graduated range of environment difficulties (six environments) employed to probe how causal emergence relates to performance across challenges.
- Can we characterize polynomial-time computation and other complexity classes in such terms?question0.754Hoping for machine-independent, geometrical characterizations of complexity classes via interaction models.