Computational mechanics, an approach to structural complexity, defines a process's causal states and gives a procedure for finding them. We show that the causal-state representation--an e-machine--is the minimal one consistent with accurate prediction. We establish several results on e-machine...

Autocatalytic self-construction in macromolecular systems requires the existence of a reflexive relationship between structural components and the functional operations they perform to synthesize themselves. The possibility of reflexivity depends on formal features of the catalytic...

The relationship between money and credit is developed in terms of "know-who" networks. It is suggested that the link between dynamics and equilibrium theory in economics can be built by regarding the noncooperative no-credit and the general equilibrium models as providing lower and upper bounds...

Computational mechanics is a method for discovering, describing and quantifying patterns, using tools from statistical physics. It contructs optimal, minimal models of stochastic processes and their underlying causal structures. These models tell us about the intrinsic computation embedded...

This paper argues that, both in the natural and life sciences and in the social sciences, we urgently need to develop a trans-disciplinary approach to environmental problems which does away with the presumed differences between "cultural" and "natural" processes. This may usefully be achieved by...