The Engine of Complexity Quotes

“Instructions do not just happen; they require explanation. In scientific study, to state that a person (or God) thought them up is not acceptable.”
― John E. Mayfield, The Engine of Complexity: Evolution as Computation

“The probability argument tells us we can be absolutely certain that no meaningful long instruction ever arose through the random arrangement of symbols.”
― John E. Mayfield, The Engine of Complexity: Evolution as Computation

“To put this another way, if you were to write down a nontrivial sequence of 1,000 Hs and Ts, you can be absolutely certain that that particular sequence will never again occur by a method based on chance.”
― John E. Mayfield, The Engine of Complexity: Evolution as Computation

“All of them illustrate a basic principle of structure formation: when appropriate simple rules are applied to certain situations, structure results as a consequence of interacting rules. This does not mean that any combination of simple rules and situations will cause structure to form—most do not—but rule combinations that result in some kind of structure are not that uncommon.”
― John E. Mayfield, The Engine of Complexity: Evolution as Computation