Creating Complexity

Creating Complexity

Organic synthesis is widely regarded as having begun nearly two centuries ago, with Friedrich Wöhler’s 1828 discovery that ammonium cyanate could be converted into urea [2]. Since that seminal finding, chemical synthesis has advanced to extents which must have been unimaginable to its early practitioners. The numerous paradigm-shifts which have taken place throughout the history of synthesis ha...

Creating complexity--the beauty and logic of synthesis.

The Complexity Challenge to Creating Useful and Usable Geovisualization Tools

The value of visualization (in particular, geovisualization) as an instrument for data exploration and analysis is widely recognized. In spite of this, the use of visualization tools by people different from the tool designers seems to be quite limited. It appears that data analysts, both novices and experts, are reluctant to use the tools and techniques created for them. We argue that user int...

The Role of Reticulate Evolution in Creating Innovation and Complexity

Reticulate evolution encompasses processes that conflict with traditional Tree of Life efforts. These processes, horizontal gene transfer (HGT), gene and whole-genome duplications through allopolyploidization, are some of the main driving forces for generating innovation and complexity. HGT has a profound impact on prokaryotic and eukaryotic evolution. HGTs can lead to the invention of new meta...

Maximizing Fun by Creating Data with Easily Reducible Subjective Complexity

The Formal Theory of Fun and Creativity (1990–2010) [Schmidhuber, J.: Formal theory of creativity, fun, and intrinsic motivation (1990–2010). IEEE Trans. Auton. Mental Dev. 2(3), 230–247 (2010b)] describes principles of a curious and creative agent that never stops generating nontrivial and novel and surprising tasks and data. Two modules are needed: a data encoder and a data creator. The forme...