08-18-2005, 07:52 PM
Hi,
--Pete
Ghostiger,Aug 18 2005, 10:44 AM Wrote:I would call prefering a diverse and complex system over a simple system more than "human aesthetics".Possibly. But nature harbors systems as sparse as the Sahara and as complex as the rain forests of Brazil. I think preferring one to the other is precisely a matter of aesthetics.
Quote:It apears that through evolution all systems work away from a simple system toward a complex one. I would suppose that the "human aesthetics" are a response to the nature of the systems we evolved in.A lot of truth there, but mostly off topic, I think. In spite of some indicators that some evolution can take place in a short time (a few tens of generations of the critter evolving), most evolutions do not change the balance substantially. Over a period of time that an ecosystem could be said to exist, evolution is probably not a (major) factor. In the long term, climatic drift, evolution, and plate tectonics are probably the main drivers of change.
I think evolution finds a "balance" at at a fairly high level of complexity.
I have never seen research on it but I suppose that while systems would be always changing with evolution, left with out "intelligent" intervention there is probably a nautural limit of complexity that systems would converge too. It would probably be limited mostly by the initial energy and a sink.
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--Pete
How big was the aquarium in Noah's ark?