“Complex Varieties from Simple Laws?” (SB 2.10.10)

Alachua - September 1994 / (073)

Thompson uses a “tinkertoy” analogy to help illustrate the improbability of producing complex consciousness based exclusively on elementary physical laws. In one example he questions, who would expect to produce a model of the Empire State Building by randomly assembling tinkertoy pieces? Thompson proposes that the empirical evidence rather suggests a necessary role for intelligence.