Russell -
I did post a few times to the emergence discussion group, but alas
didn't find to time required to do the essential reading of the tomes
discussing emergence, so eventually had to skip the discussion.
I *do* remember you posting now, but at the time did not appreciate
that you were the author of "Nothing". I understood that Nick's
discussion group had a wide dynamic range in the experience and
knowledge of it's participants and wasn't surprised that the discussion
was somewhat limited for those who had been around the Emergence tree a
few times already.
I have come to a particular view on complexity and emergence, through
using it in my studies of complex systems, rather than reading the
copious literature on the subject. If I had done the latter, I'm sure
I would have been lost in the mire of contradictory definitions and
positions.
This is precisely why I find your work on the topic so refreshing. You
seem to know *enough* about the published literature to be able address
*some of* the obvious points but as you say, not get mired by them. I'm
also a sucker for Ensemble Theories (referencing _Nothing_). I
appreciate your humility in describing it this way as well.
So I'm quite sure, that what I've published is not particularly
original, and quite probably reproduces what someone else said in the
dim, distant past. Nevertheless, my paper "On complexity and
emergence" is my second highest cited paper, with 79 cites, according
to Google Scholar. I didn't expect that :). Cheers
On Owen's generous production of the reference to your paper on ArXiv, I
shifted from re-reading _Nothing_ to reading this (denser, more
succinct) paper, which obviously provides some important
underpinnings/core to the book.
Thanks for _Nothing_
- Steve
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