Russ Standish wrote __ Can somebody remind me what are the supposed problems with emergence and > reductionism?
Russ, I will do my best but you have to promise not to growl at me when I get it wrong. Two problems, closely related: (1) Self Cause; (2) Downward Causation It is one of those problems that appears and dissappears as you rotate it in your hands. In my attempts to stabilize my thinking about the problem, I have been imagining an equilateral triangle of wood built out of three one-by-two's and hinges, so you can stand it on its edge and press down on its apex. The emergent property is the extreme resistance of the triangle to downward force applied to its apex. The downward causation is to the property of the hinges which are inflexible under these circumstances. I cant work this out right now ... late for a meeting ... but I think if you ask yourself questions like Why does the triangle resist compression [unlike a parallelogram]? and Why are the hinges rigid? you will experience some cognitive vertigo. If not, then all power to you. rushing to a meeting. Hope to pick this up later today. Nick Nicholas S. Thompson Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology, Clark University ([email protected]) http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/ > [Original Message] > From: russell standish <[email protected]> > To: <[email protected]>; The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group <[email protected]> > Date: 4/29/2009 11:43:51 PM > Subject: Re: [FRIAM] emergence, again > > On Tue, Apr 28, 2009 at 10:45:48PM -0700, Russ Abbott wrote: > > Unless you can tell me why I'm wrong, I will continue to claim that I've > > solved the problems of emergence and reductionism in "The reductionist blind > > spot <http://philsci-archive.pitt.edu/archive/00004540/>." (Yes, it's an > > audacious claim.) You are welcome to look elsewhere of course, but that > > paper is a significant advance beyond anything in the literature including > > Cartwright, Miller/Page, and Bedau and Humphrey's collection. If you > > disagree, tell me why. Sometimes it seems to me that people prefer to think > > of emergence as mysterious. It's not. > > > > -- Russ > > > > Can somebody remind me what are the supposed problems with emergence and > reductionism? > > -- > > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > Prof Russell Standish Phone 0425 253119 (mobile) > Mathematics > UNSW SYDNEY 2052 [email protected] > Australia http://www.hpcoders.com.au > ---------------------------------------------------------------------------- > > ============================================================ > FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv > Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College > lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org ============================================================ FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
