This chapter discusses structures that depend no less on physical laws, but that differ because they require extra, often complicated local rules. These rules are so improbable they can never arise by random means. They require special explanation. It presents examples of various complexities made possible only through the use of instructions. It shows that unlike water waves, solar systems, and thunderstorms which are more spontaneously probable, screwdrivers, viruses, membrane proteins, and action potentials require three things: prespecification, purpose, and the appearance of extremely low probability. Instruction use accounts for all three. Instructions, by their nature, have the purpose of prespecifying something, and the amount of specification determines how improbable something would be if instructions were not used. The laws of nature are also specifications of a sort, but they are simple, universal, and never focused on particular outcomes. In contrast, instructions are complicated, not universal, and lead to outcomes that are for something specific. Things resulting simply from the laws of chemistry and physics acting on reasonably probable initial conditions may be surprising, intricate, or grand, but excluding religious interpretations, can never be said to be designed for a purpose or predetermined to fit something else.
The Engine of Complexity: Evolution as Computation
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