Earth’s Complexity Is Non-Computable The Limits of Scaling Laws, Nonlinearity and Chaos

" In this article, we will argue that the Earth system qualifies as a complex system because it instantiates autopoietic organization and therefore the closure to efficient causation at the planetary scale. That is, the Earth systems, as a physical system, realize the formal pattern of an impredicative system. Some consequences of this approach are discussed in reference to in-silico climate models, tipping points, planetary boundaries, resilience, and the notion that adaptive evolution and selection operates on non-reproducing self-perpetuating planetary feedback loops." {Credits 1}

" Autopoiesis must involve an interdependence between a metabolic network and a semi-permeable boundary. On the planetary scale, this can be interpreted as the biosphere (involving the lithosphere and hydrosphere) being the metabolic network, and the atmosphere being the semi-permeable boundary, respectively." {Credits 1}

" The mutual specification of the atmosphere and the metabolic reaction network offer an explanatory account of a self-producing organization that amounts to a self-referential system on the planetary domain, thus a form of planetary autopoiesis." {Credits 1}

" Given that autonomy is a corollary of autopoiesis [59] and that every autopoietic system minimizes free energy (active inference) [47], it is plausible that the Earth’s complexity involves autonomy and anticipation as well [63, 64]." {Credits 1}

{Credits 1} 🎪 Rubin, S.; Crucifix, M. Earth’s Complexity Is Non-Computable: The Limits of Scaling Laws, Nonlinearity and Chaos. Entropy 2021, 23, 915. https://doi.org/10.3390/e23070915 © 2021 The Author(s). This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial License.