formalization of Complexity (was Dynamics of Complex Systems by Yaneer Bar-Yam)

Posted by Stephen Guerin on
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/Dynamics-of-Complex-Systems-by-Yaneer-Bar-Yam-tp522166p522199.html

 
>  Yet when I ask for a formal treatment, I get no answer.

I very much like Hubler's deceptively simple definition of complexity:
        "A complex systems is a system with large throughput of Energy,
Information, Force, .... through a well designed boundary."

His notes from the SFI CSSS school with this definition are here:
http://www.how-why.com/ucs2002/tutorial/


As a restatement of the same ideas that formalizes what "large" means, I would
offer:
        "complexity emerges when a gradient acting on a system exceeds the
capacity of the internal degrees of freedom of the system to dissipate the
gradient".


Is that formal enough? or, does the statement need to be mathematized?

-Steve

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