Philosophy Stack Exchange
Philosophy Stack Exchange

Questions tagged [complexity]

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Does Intelligent Design (ID) entail an infinite regress of designers, and if so, is that problematic?

We can arrive at an infinite regress of designers as follows: Suppose that X is so complex that it's considered to show evidence of design. Accordingly, we infer that an intelligent designer must be behind X. Let ID1 be this intelligent…
Mark
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Is the notion of "Complex System" a philosophy of science? Is it the opposite of Reductionism? Is it related to Holism?

I have tried to come to terms with the notion of "complex systems" of which I heard in one of the lessons at school though without too much depth. I grasp that a complex system is such that the behavior of the elements in the system do not yield…
Luna
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Resisting a classic Buddhist Argument for Mereological Nihilism

I’ve been getting into mereology and this a classic Buddhist puzzle that he recommended. How can these premises be resisted? A. If wholes exist, then either wholes are identical with their parts or distinct from them. B. Wholes and their parts have…
Craigory
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Is thinking algorithmic?

I'm wondering about the fundamental differences between human thinking and computer thinking. Is it wise to consider all human thinking in terms of algorithms?
Remi.b
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Does the existence of non-understandable concepts refute solipsism?

First, I am aware that most of the essays regarding solipsism and the existence of philosophical zombies conclude that there is no way to confirm or refute them. From my perspective, there is a vast knowledge in several fields (such as quantum…
Vikter
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Can the simplicity of a hypothesis be objectively measured?

When two or more hypotheses can explain the same evidence, it's commonly affirmed that simpler hypotheses should be preferred over more complex ones. For example, in response to my previous question How do we know (i.e. justify our belief) that time…
user48437
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Hard stuff made easy?

There is a philosophical assumption, inspired by educational didactics, which consists of thinking that any concept, no matter how intricate, can be presented in simple words and easily understood if it is adequately exemplified. The title of the…
Davius
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Computational intractability and reductionism?

It seems straightforward to argue that if the variables of one physical (or biological) theory A are shown to be uncomputable (in the Turing sense) as a function of the variables of another physical theory B, and the Church-Turing thesis holds, then…
Alexander S King
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What kind of physical complexity is related to the axiom of regularity for sets?

Augenstein's exploration in Links between physics and set theory mentions Ulam relating complexity and regularity: There are several sources for appreciating Ulam’s ideas and interests. A collection of his papers in Beyer et al. [80]... discusses…
Kristian Berry
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Order/disorder and complexity

What is the relation between order/disorder and complexity ? Sometimes I found the terms confusing and ambiguous. And higher entropy implies low complexity, does not implies low entropy implies higher complexity.
quanity
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Is there a name for the phenomenon where a system that selects for one quality eventually leads to optimizing that quality at the cost of others?

There's a pattern that pops up in a wide variety of systems - biological, economic, social, etc - and can occur whenever survival and propagation within the system is determined by how well members within it embody some particular quality. Probably…
Empiromancer
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What are the essential differences between Quantum & Classical Turing Machines?

The classical Turing machine comes in a variety of different flavours. The basic version is the one first outlined by Turing, the non-deterministic version allows finite branching at every computation and in which every branch is followed, or in the…
Mozibur Ullah
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Is self-consciousness because of complexity?

Suppose I have enough material from the chemistry periodic table and also I have enough power to combine and concatenate them to create a complex human once at a time; Does this complexity guarantee it's self-consciousness? How I can evaluate if…
Yasser Zamani
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Does the complexity of the world defeat explanation?

It is not a very uncommon feeling in us, that of feeling the nature of the world too hard, too complex, too unattainable. Is there any philosophical reasoning in this matter or at least a name to use for Googling? I am not even sure where this…
user29573
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Is there a fundamental difference between strong and weak emergence?

Weak emergent properties are said to be properties of a large system that can be predicted or derived by computing the interactions of the system's constituent parts. Strong emergent properties of a system are said to be impossible to predict by…
user289661
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