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Modern science has been thoroughly influenced by the centuries-old Simplicity Principle, also known as Ockham’s Razor. This principle is usually formulated as “entities must not be multiplied without necessity”. The main problem with this formulation is that the necessity or redundancy of an entity (e.g. a concept, hypothesis, law, rule, an explanatory element) cannot always be compellingly demonstrated. This means that, certainly within an empiristic, positivistic or materialistic worldview, the use of Ockham’s Razor easily tends towards unjustified reductionism. However, ontologically or epistemologically, the Simplicity Principle can no longer be justified. The Simplicity Principle does not provide a sufficient argument to reject “entities” as irrelevant or superfluous. Moreover, a reductionistic conception of science cannot contribute to tackling issues concerning ultimate values, meanings of life, metaphysics, aesthetics, religion and several aspects of practical life, such as counselling, morals, politics and jurisdiction. Therefore, this article proposes an alternative principle that I have called the Chatton–Ockham Strategy, which is an integration of Chatton’s anti-Razor and Ockham’s Razor and deals with the complexity–simplicity polarity.

People always need more information than they have. They can get some of this information by themselves but a good deal of information remains inaccessible. This situation, which always existed in human civilization, brought forth Oracles. The idea of an Oracle reflected interactions between systems, such as people and states, with less information and systems with more indispensable information. In the 20^th century, it was proved that some information is intrinsically inaccessible and then the concept of an Oracle naturally came to computer science becoming popular in the realm of algorithms and computations. At first, Turing machines with an Oracle were introduced and studied. Later inductive Turing machines with Oracles, limit Turing machines with Oracles and evolutionary Turing machines with Oracles were established and explored. Here we create a theoretical background for the concept of an Oracle. In the first part of this work, we contemplate Oracles in human culture. In the second part, we contemplate Oracles in computer science and mathematics. In the third part, the variety of Oracles is analyzed and classified. In the fourth part, we develop a mathematical theory of Oracles, where the concepts of an Oracle and its brands are formalized and studied in the mathematical framework.

Tierra is a digital simulation of evolution for which the stated goal was the development of open-ended complexity and a digital “Cambrian Explosion.” However, Tierra failed to produce such a result. A closer inspection “ Tierran evolution's adaptations show very few instances of adaptation through the production of new information. Instead, most changes result from removing or rearranging the existing pieces within a Tierra program. The open-ended development of complexity depends on the ability to generate new information, but this is precisely what Tierra struggles to do. The character of Tierran adaptation does not allow for open-ended complexity but is similar to the character of adaptations found in the biological world.