Origins and Rules of Complexity

Question 1

Occurs where what and what pull in opposite directions?

Answer 1

Chaos and order

Question 2

What 1970s computer game alerted Christopher Langton to complexity?

Answer 2

John Conway’s Game of Life - two dimensional grid of “living” or “dead” squares

Question 3

Rule number one - what matters?

Answer 3

Numbers - need to be a sufficient number of interacting parts; the more individuals in a system, the greater the level of complexity

Question 4

Rule two - interactions are what?

Answer 4

Local not global - eg the interaction of single ants, not top down planning

Question 5

Rule three - what sort of loops?

Answer 5

Negative feedback loops - eg an air conditioner turns on when the room is too hot, off when the room cools again (positive feedback loops = energy expanding behaviours that ultimately crash and burn the system such as an economic bubble or cancer)

Question 6

How do negative feedback loops apply for cells?

Answer 6

Cells growing next to others display “contact inhibition” - prevented from dividing when surrounded by other cells. If adjacent cells die or move away, the previously inhibited cell divides and the gap is filled, with contact inhibition restored. When genetic mutations appear, a negative feedback is either turned off or a positive one turned on or both

Question 7

Rule four - what is key?

Answer 7

The degree of randomness. Some randomness is vital, whether among ants or cells. “Unpredictability is a defining hallmark of complex systems… [it] is also the source of all the extraordinary capabilities for unbridled creativity in complex systems.” Vital for adaptation.