I think the devil is in one important detail, namely - how do we define complexity? Let's define the problem as Evolution(inputs) = Intelligence. The claim is

I think the devil is in one important detail, namely - how do we define complexity? Let's define the problem as Evolution(inputs) = Intelligence. The claim is that complexity(function) + complexity(inputs) > complexity(outputs). Now to show that the parent claim is not necessarily true (which is not the same as proving that it is false), we just need to show that there exists a combination of complexity function and a system that does not satisfy the above constraints. 1. Let's examine information compressibility as a complexity function. There are a few examples of where a simple set of rules and inputs could produce basically an infinite stream of incompressible information. Examples include Conway game of life, double pendulum, fractals, all irrational numbers, etc... 2. Now to tie that back to Evolution, the authors avoid defining evolution or its inputs, which means they could be quite simple yet produce mind boggling complexity. Therefore the argument that the evolution must be more complex than intelligent life is backwards (if you buy my complexity definition anyhow :P). 3. Of course this kind breaks down if we discretize evolution because at that point all of the existing life is an input into the evolution. So complexity(evolution) + complexity(life[t] + environment[t]) > complexity(life[t+1]) is obviously true for some t and t + 1. For example if t is right before a mass extinction event and t+1 is right after. This is somewhat unrelated, but I am quite partial of theory that life in general and intelligence in particular is driven by entropy. Or maybe less confusingly (because who the hell knows what entropy is) is driven by macro tendency of everything towards lowest energy states. Life in this case is smart matter that bridges activation energy gap to extract available energy gradients as fast as possible. Here is the concept explained by people who put a lot more thought into it: https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-thermodynamics-theory-of-the-origin-of-life-20140122/ https://www.quantamagazine.org/a-new-thermodynamics-theory-o...