After poking about a bit in the Emergence realm, I find I enjoy Miller/
Page's discussion, mainly because it summarizes the puzzle and puts it
into perspective. And I like their prose.
Basically, its the wide domain of local interactions (at a micro
level) producing a global behavior (macro) not obviously connected to
the local interactions. [Their use of perception (macro) of unrelated
pixels (micro) is a bit involved, but makes their point in a very
human domain.]
This leads me to suggest something. How about you pause for a bit,
and put together your thoughts on the matter, and present them at a
Wedtech .. or even as a blog/wiki article. Then we can decide whether
to haul in the philosophers, and if so, how.
-- Owen
On Apr 28, 2009, at 8:38 PM, Nicholas Thompson wrote:
I am told on Higher Authority that I cannot think about emergence
any more before I have read the following reference:
Cartwright, Nancy D. "Do the Laws of Physics State the Facts?"
Pacific Philosophy Quarterly, 61, 1980 (pp 64-75). Reprinted in The
Philosophy of Science Reader, 1980, Yuri V. Balashov (ed).
Routledge Press. Reprinted in Philosophy of Science: The Central
Issues, 1998, Martin Curd and J.A. Cover (ed). Norton & Company Inc.
Also in Readings on Laws of Nature, 2004 J.W.Carroll (ed).
University of Pittsburgh Press.
Does anybody have a copy? Ingenta has it, but they want big bucks
for it.
N
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