Matt, > It probably takes a few hundred bits to describe the laws of physics.
Hmm, that seems very few, just taking a look at the Standard Model and General Relativity right now... What sort of machine are you assuming is interpreting these bits? If it's some sort of standard Turing machine with a tape etc., or a standard modern Intel processor running e.g. standard Linux OS/tools with no special physics software, then I kinda think it's more than that... ben On Sat, Oct 5, 2019 at 5:01 PM Matt Mahoney <mattmahone...@gmail.com> wrote: > > > > On Sat, Oct 5, 2019, 8:00 AM John Rose <johnr...@polyplexic.com> wrote: >> >> On Friday, October 04, 2019, at 12:42 PM, Matt Mahoney wrote: >> >> Evolution is arguably simple, but it required 10^48 DNA copy operations on >> 10^37 bits to create human intelligence >> >> >> Simple programs that create apparent complexity are not full representations >> of that complexity since they don't contain the physical energy expenditure >> component in the expression. That's where the consciousness of an observer >> comes in to play (IMO). > > > The complexity of an object is the fewest number of symbols needed to > describe it in some language. It has nothing to do with computation time, > energy, or consciousness. It is only the simplicity of a theory that > determines its power in making predictions in accordance with Occam's Razor. > This holds in all branches of science. > > Simpler descriptions are usually slower. For example, the simplest > description of pi is probably the Taylor series expansion of 4 x arctan(1) = > 4 x (1 - 1/3 + 1/5 - 1/7 +...). But that converges very slowly. You need a > million terms to get the first 6 decimal places. There are faster algorithms, > but it is the simplest formula that determines how often pi turns up in > various places. > > Likewise, a description of evolution would require a model of chemistry, > which would require 10^90 (quantum) operations to model just the Earth, or > 10^120 operations to model all 10^24 planets in the observable universe and > their sun's, even if Earth is the only one containing life. The latter model > requires 80 fewer bits to encode because it doesn't have to specify the > planet. It allows for models in which the spontaneous formation of self > replicating molecules is exceedingly rare, as it seems to be. > > It probably takes a few hundred bits to describe the laws of physics. But an > even simpler model, requiring vastly more computation, is that all possible > universes with all possible laws of physics exist, and we necessary observe > one where it is possible for life to evolve. > > Artificial General Intelligence List / AGI / see discussions + participants + > delivery options Permalink -- Ben Goertzel, PhD http://goertzel.org “The only people for me are the mad ones, the ones who are mad to live, mad to talk, mad to be saved, desirous of everything at the same time, the ones who never yawn or say a commonplace thing, but burn, burn, burn like fabulous yellow roman candles exploding like spiders across the stars.” -- Jack Kerouac ------------------------------------------ Artificial General Intelligence List: AGI Permalink: https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/T8eabd59f2f06cc50-M0be40ec25d48afdbb9a61e0b Delivery options: https://agi.topicbox.com/groups/agi/subscription
