Observing Complexity and The Complexity of Observation

James P. Crutchfield
Physics Department
University of California
Berkeley, California 94720, USA

ABSTRACT: The distortions introduced by the measurement process can lead to drastic consequences for an observer's ability to infer structure in its environment. Several examples illustrate the appearance of infinite complexity and irreducible indeterminacy in classical, deterministic processes. Along the way several notions of complexity and an approach to a general solution -- hierarchical machine reconstruction -- are reviewed.

J. P. Crutchfield, "Observing Complexity and The Complexity of Observation", in Inside versus Outside, H. Atmanspacher, editor, Springer-Verlag, Berlin (1994) 234 - 272. [ps.gz]= 298kb [ps]= 1,333kb [pdf]= 706kb
Santa Fe Institute Working Paper 93-06-035.

NOTE: Based on a talk given at the Max Planck Institute Workshop on Endo-Exo Problems in Physics, Ringberg Castle, Bavaria, Germany, 29 March - 2 April 1993.