Emergence

Free your mind from the reductionistic worldview.

What is Emergence?

There are a few definitions out there. I like this one:

“The arising of novel and coherent structures, patterns and properties during the process of self-organization in complex systems” — Jeffrey Goldstein

The important thing is the collective:

A single grain of sand doesn't make a pile of sand
A single neuron is not a brain
A single molecule of water doesn't flow
A single person does not make an economy

Somewhere there's a critical mass that makes something new. But the boundary between too few and enough is fuzzy....

Examples of Emergence

Here's a very incomplete list:

From inanimate matter, life emerges
From unconscious neurons, consciousness emerges
From selfish genes, altruism and cooperation emerge
From random processes, strikingly ordered shapes emerge
Schools of fish, flocks of birds.... Which one is in charge? No one.
Ant colonies
Waves (made by people) in a stadium
The Internet
Human societies, cities, economies
Slime molds
Water (especially note its phase transitions)
Samuel's checker-playing program (indeed computer program that learns)

Here's an example of a "random" process. Click any three points in the canvas below. Then the app will plot a sequence of points as follows: The first point will be one of your original three. Each subsequent point will be a point halfway between the previous point and a randomly selected point from your original three. Do you think you will end up with a solidly filled in triangle? Try it!

Here's a question: Do you think the phenomena of quantum locking is emergent? Here's the original video:

Also see a more detailed video of the effect and a TED talk on the subject.

Why Care?

Studying emergence is very beneficial, both intellectually, and perhaps spiritually. Why?

It makes you question whether reductionism is the be-all and end-all of science. Why should everything be reducible to primitive laws? Why does there have to be one master equation?
It gives you a new look at the very notion of "physical law": Laws don't generate anything, they just describe things. Rather than going crazy wracking your brains for answers to the question "who set the values of the fundamental constants of the universe?" you can marvel at how the universe continues to make itself.

Where to Learn About It?

Wikipedia articles: Emergence, Emergentism
SEP article
Robert Laughlin's Book
An interesting article by Richard Seel (he's an "organisation consultant")
A Q&A with Jon Holland
This article on emergence and reductionism
This article on how time, space, and gravity may be emergent phenomena

Exercise: Discuss Seel's "Seven Conditions for Emergence"

If you like TED talks (an no one says you have to), here's one that focuses on synchronization:

Exercise: Do some research on the tendency of some things (as shown in the video) to "seek order". Is this a violation of the second law of thermodynamics?

Topics in Emergence

Strong and Weak Emergence

David Chalmers has some ideas on emergence in this video:

Emergence and The Sacred

Here is an essay and a book chapter touching on emergence and the notions of the spiritual and sacred: What do you think about them?

Emergence vs. Reductionism

Reductionism has been successful in science, but Schrodinger's example of isomers in What Is Life? among many other examples shows emergence to be a powerful idea.

Sometimes you will see papers complaining about emergentists excesses, like this one.

Also it has argued by some that one should be careful in accepting emergent explanations for some phenomena because that may stifle scientific inquiry.

Exercise: Find examples of this warning that have been made by reputable scholars or researchers.

A Question

Can emergence be explained reductionistically?