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Complexity and Evolution: A Study of the Growth of Complexity in Organic and Cultural Evolution

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Abstract

In the present paper I develop a model of the evolutionary process associated to the widespread although controversial notion of a prevailing trend of increasing complexity over time. The model builds on a coupling of evolution to individual developmental programs and introduces an integrated view of evolution implying that human culture and science form a continuous extension of organic evolution. It is formed as a mathematical model that has made possible a quantitative estimation in relative terms of the growth of complexity. This estimation is accomplished by means of computer simulations the result of which indicates a strong acceleration of complexity all the way from the appearance of multicellular organisms up to modern man.

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Correspondence to Börje Ekstig.

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Ekstig, B. Complexity and Evolution: A Study of the Growth of Complexity in Organic and Cultural Evolution. Found Sci 15, 263–278 (2010). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-010-9179-6

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10699-010-9179-6

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