Complexity and System Descriptions

Abstract

There is an enormous literature on the complexity of systems, and with attempts at specifying intrinsic measures of complexity. In this note, we will take an opposite view; that complexity is not an intrinsic property of a system, but rather manifests our capabilities to interact with the system. Since our capabilities to interact with systems around us are continually changing, so too do their apparent complexities. Some consequences of this viewpoint, bearing on system descriptions, and on the capacity of systems to make errors, will be dealt with below; a fuller discussion of these matters will be presented in another place.