Nick
IMHO, I thought 'to see', 'observations', 'arrangements' and 'order'
were also largely 'in the eye of the beholder'! If emergence is ever to
become a (part of) science, repeatable measurements (from verifiable
observations) leading to one or more calculated parameters is the only
way to bring 'emergence' in from the cold/limbo/twilight zone, where it
appears to be right now. Statistical and/or structural pattern
recognition <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pattern_recognition> seem to
be good places to start. (See also descriptive statistics)
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Descriptive_statistics> I don't know if
this has yet been attempted/done but hope to hear otherwise. Perhaps
it's just too hard.
Robert C.
Nicholas Thompson wrote:
I respectfully but firmly disagree. To see emergence, one may have to
observe the phenomenon from a particular angle, emergence itself is
out there. Properties of aggregates often depend on the arrangement
or order of arrangement of their parts.
N
Nicholas S. Thompson
Emeritus Professor of Psychology and Ethology,
Clark University ([email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>)
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
<http://home.earthlink.net/%7Enickthompson/naturaldesigns/>
----- Original Message -----
*From:* Robert Cordingley <mailto:[email protected]>
*To: *[email protected] <mailto:[email protected]>;The
Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
<mailto:[email protected]>
*Sent:* 9/6/2009 5:57:14 PM
*Subject:* Re: [FRIAM] emergence
After observing all the tos and fros, and listening to many in
person discussions on emergence and complexity, I've decided (see
No. 4), Emergence is in the eye of the beholder. This will
continue until someone declares a definition that can be widely
adopted by workers in the field. Look at the Reynolds Number
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Reynolds_number> that is a
dimensionless but useful engineering tool to determine the type of
fluid flow, whether it's laminar or turbulent and helps determine
how to calculate pipeline pressure drops and such. Or look at
Fractal Dimension
<http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fractal_dimension>, that is a
statistical quantity, and I believe is another dimensionless
quantity, in fact.
Is is possible that there is a measure of Complexity that can be
used in the same sort of way? As this measure of Complexity
increases Emergence happens (like turbulence) above a certain
value? And it is so because we say so.
Robert C.
Russ Abbott wrote:
<snipped>
4. Is emergence an objective feature of the world, or is it
merely in the eye of the beholder? ...
<snipped>
-- Russ
<snipped>
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Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
