Observing complexity and the complexity of observation

James P. Crutchfield

pp. 235-272

in: Harald Atmanspacher, Gerhard J. Dalenoort (eds), Inside versus outside, Berlin, Springer, 1994

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.