True complexity and the natures of existence

My concern in this chapter is true complexity and its relation to physics. This is to be distinguished from what is covered by statistical physics, catastrophe theory, study of sand piles, the reaction diffusion equation, cellular automata such as “The Game of Life,” and chaos theory. Examples of truly complex systems are molecular biology, animal and human brains, language and symbolic systems, individual human behavior, social and economic systems, digital computer systems, and the biosphere. This complexity is made possible by the existence of molecular structures that allow complex biomolecules such as RNA, DNA, and proteins with their folding properties and lock-and-key recognition mechanisms, in turn underlying membranes, cells (including neurons), and indeed the entire bodily fabric and nervous system.

True complexity involves vast quantities of stored information and hierarchically organized structures that process information in a purposeful manner, particularly through implementation of goal-seeking feedback loops. Through this structure they appear purposeful in their behavior (“teleonomic”). This is what we must look at when we start to extend physical thought to the boundaries, and particularly when we try to draw philosophical conclusions – for example, as regards the nature of existence – from our understanding of the way physics underlies reality.