Mind · Reasoning
EpistemicComplexity#1be3
Complexity is a stance of the knower: three dynamics that keep crucial information out of reach
Mechanism
Complexity is an epistemological perspective, not an intrinsic property of a system; it places the gap of BoundedModelOpenWorld in the observer's relation to the situation. A situation is complex for an observer when it shows one or more of three dynamics: it changes before it can be analysed in full (a special case of ComputationalIrreducibility), crucial information cannot be acquired without changing the state of the system (the observer problem), and predictions alter the outcome they predict in unpredictable ways (reflexivity). These dynamics are strongest in games of information, where intelligences model each other modelling them; the regress meets the Halting problem, so the inaccessibility of information becomes a property of the system rather than a shortage of data.
Invariants
- Complexity is a relation between an observer and a situation, not a property of the situation alone
- At least one dynamic holds: the situation outruns analysis, measurement changes the state, or prediction changes the outcome
- In games of information, missing information is a property of the system and cannot be bought with more data or compute
Failure modes
- Adding data or compute to close a gap that exists by construction
- Scoring a published prediction as if publishing it had no effect on the outcome
- Reading a measurement that disturbed the system as the state of the undisturbed system
- Calling a merely complicated problem complex and abandoning analysis that would have worked
Builds on
Used by
Identity
The name is the hash of the definition. Change a word and it becomes a different pattern.
- Sema ID
sema:EpistemicComplexity#mh:SHA-256:1be368df3557c0ab379f0570ff6fe1241e8e54137e8d6a41fd78169e7095bbf5- Reference
EpistemicComplexity#1be3- Ring
- 1
- Tier
- 2