What is complexity?
“Complexity is difficult to define. Many people have tried to define it based on the characteristics of complexity in the context of their own research fields. But not a single definition seems comprehensive enough to suit all the situations where complexity exists.” Two of the most recent ones are below.
Flood and Carson, 1993 “In general, we seem to associate complexity with anything we find difficult to understand.”
McCarthy, 1995 “Complexity is a perceived systems attribute which increases as the number and variety of elements and relationships within the system becomes greater, and increases as the level of predictability and understanding of the system as a whole decreases”
How to make complex things simple?
So, if a pattern is found in a complex system, will it become simpler? The current genome sequence is complex, just like the byte code that comes out of a compiled program. But if patterns are found in this complex set of data, will the data become more understandable and simpler?
Comments Off on What is complexity?