Eliezer and Nick: I don’t think “Kolmogorov complexity” and “Mandelbrot set” actually answers what I was trying to understand.
Both of those concepts seem completely apt for describing perfectly deterministic systems. But, in describing the “complexity” of the universe even in something as simple as the “pattern of stars that exists” one would still have to take into account potential non-deterministic factors such as human behavior. Unless you are a strict determinist, you have to allow for the potential for a sufficiently advanced human (or non-human) intelligence to eradicate a particular star, or even a galaxy, or to produce an artificial black hole that alters the pattern of stars.
How are these factors accounted for in a “500 bit” code? Or, are you saying that you are a strict determinist?
Eliezer and Nick: I don’t think “Kolmogorov complexity” and “Mandelbrot set” actually answers what I was trying to understand.
Both of those concepts seem completely apt for describing perfectly deterministic systems. But, in describing the “complexity” of the universe even in something as simple as the “pattern of stars that exists” one would still have to take into account potential non-deterministic factors such as human behavior. Unless you are a strict determinist, you have to allow for the potential for a sufficiently advanced human (or non-human) intelligence to eradicate a particular star, or even a galaxy, or to produce an artificial black hole that alters the pattern of stars.
How are these factors accounted for in a “500 bit” code? Or, are you saying that you are a strict determinist?