If there is complexity in simplicity...and simplicity in complexity...?

Question

...then how can we really understand the level of detail in the world around us?

Answer 1

Look at Wolfram's rule 110, the rule is trivially simple ( Just one line of computer code ). Yet it has been mathematically been proven that it generates any level of complexity desired. You only need to "select" where in the output of that rule you wish to look. Indeed it has been mathematically proven that somewhere within that output one can find any finite output you wish to find. You can find a representation of all of Shakespeare, or all of the DNA of every living thing, or even everything within the observable universe. The output as a whole is kolmogorov simple however within that simplicity one can select unlimited complexity. The key here is the word "select". Local complexity is selected from simplicity and variance.

In the case of our own existence we have a profound selection mechanism: Our own existence" We have selected a locally complex region of reality because only local complexity enables our existence and evolution.

Answer 2

I like this question. Think about fractals. If you don't know what a fractal is, look it up. or better yet, download a program called Xaos. It is easily available on the web. it will render real time fractals. You can see how simple equations lead to infinitely complex patterns. I would definitely say that the two (complexity and simplicity) are intertwined as 'yin and yang', so to speak.

Answer 3

For some artists complexity works maximum ideal yet for others simplicity is more beneficial advantageous, i imagine it relies upon...yet i'm no longer too choosy about that for thus long as my ears delight in what they listen! besides the undeniable fact that, I do agree that complexity does show off more beneficial of the artists' skills than simplicity.

Answer 4

All good thoughts in the mind are simple thoughts, or thoughts leading up to simplicity in life; complications are considered only to avoid complications, or to reach simple facts in truth.

'If there is complexity in simplicity', and vice versa, is true only in the manner of our objective observation, and the way we observe things depends upon where we stand. The fact of the world we observe is that it is neither simple nor complex, it is just purposeful; and when we are unable to see a purpose in things we try to understand and regard things complex or simple according the effort we put in understanding thier purpose of being the way they are. Let us call this study of simplicity and complexity simplexity.

A flower, for example, would you say is complex, or simple? In my view, it is simple as I see plenty of them growing spontaneously in wild, without any assistance, or interference of any outside manufacturing process; and then they are complex since we are not able to make them in laboratories. And then we aso do not know how simple operations within our own body are carried out at a molecular level.

Close to the flame of a candle illumination is almost perfect, no shades of darkness are visible, but at a distance light tend to lose its effectiveness into complex patterns of darkness. We can see just that far and as far as we are able to see we know things through our understanding, for us they are simple, but before that they were not. There is nothing simple or complex any where in existence, just as there is no body of knowledge beyond what is is in the grasp of our mind, there are just facts to be found and relations between facts to be established all in our own mind.

'How can we know the level of details in the world?' We never will for that will be the end of all that is there to know. Heart of an atom at a sub-microscopic level and the expanse of this universe both are equally inaccessible for us and therefore, infinitely complex to understand. All that we know, we know through arbitrations and assumptions, we never know anything for hundred percent certainty. Our mind is like a boat on the surface of an ocean. We do not know how deep that ocean is and how high is the sky above, and that boat is made up of our opinions and conjectures that we extract from our observations. We know one thing with the help f other things we know. All our knowledge is coherent, constructed and practical because we stand at one standpoint to observe.

Answer 5

LOL...ever heard of chaos theory? Or, how about Poe's A Dream Within A Dream? Or Metamorphoses? Seen What Dreams May Come? In the end it all comes down to this...one very simple, very basic and very personal thing......what do YOU see?

Answer 6

Yes, there is a branch of mathematics known as "chaos theory" devoted entirely to this concept.

Answer 7

As we search for understanding more truth is revealed.

Answer 8

Do we understand anything in it's entirety? I doubt it.

Answer 9

Simple...We cannot; it is too complex.