Try this: a property of an entity is emergent when it depends on the
arrangment or the order of presentation of the parts of the entity. (It's
properties that are emergent, not entities ... some properties of a pile of
sand are emergent, some aggregate.) Here, I believe, I am channeling Wimsatt.
The beauty of reading a collection such as Bedau and The Other Guy is that you
experience the whip-lash of moving from point of view to point of view. Good
exercise for the neck.
By the way, Russ (was it?) was a ...leetle... unfair to Bedau. I dont think
Bedau thinks it's a mystery; i think he thinks others have thought it a
mystery. But it's been a few months since I read it.
Implementation: Consider the expression, "there is more than one way to skin a
cat". Equivalent to: "there are several programs you can use to implement a
cat skinning."
Consciousness: the big source of confusion in emergence discussions is the
attempt to attach emergence to such perennial mysteries as consciousness.
(Actually, I dont think consciousness is a mystery, but let that go.) The
strength of a triangle is an emergent property of the arrangment of its legs
and their attachments. There are lots of ways bang together boards and still
have a weak construction, which I learned when I put together a grape arbor
with no diagonal members. Worked fine until the grapes grew on it. Emergent
properties are everywhere in the simplest of constructions. We dont need to
talk about soul, or consciouness, or spirit to have a useful conversation about
emergence.
Nick
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,
Clark University ([email protected])
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
----- Original Message -----
From: Victoria Hughes
To: The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
Sent: 9/6/2009 10:32:59 AM
Subject: Re: [FRIAM] emergence
Consciousness / self-awareness?
Is this thus acceptable as an emergent phenomenon?
If so, how does this permit, or not, the definition of 'the self' as a unique
identity?
Emergence is what happens when components of the "emergent entity" act in such
a way as to bring about the existence and persistence of that entity.
When "boids" follow their local flying rules, they create (implement) a flock.
It's not mysterious. We know how it works.
That's all emergence is: coordinated or consistent actions among a number of
elements that result in the formation and persistence of some aggregate entity
or phenomenon.
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