Speaking of emergence, any takes on Phillip Ball's article in Quanta?
https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-new-math-of-how-large-scale-order-emerges-20240610/
I really liked his summary of the current non-explanations for
emergence, but I haven't had time to read further.
-- rec --
As a member of a group here roughly described as "Complexity Groupies" I
am heartened to hear Ball's acknowledgement that "nobody" really seems
to have a good explanation of "what emergence is". It feels parallel to
art and pornography in the sense of "I don't know what it is, but I know
it when I see it".
Terrence Deacon's classifications of dynamic systems seems to provide
some insight or fine structure to emergence, though I don't know if it
is widely interesting or helpful to others. He applies it primarily to
life unto consciousness studies. It seems particularly apt to Ball's
references to "heirarchical" systems while his references to "leaky"
emergence rhymes (a little for me) with Herb Simon's "partially
decomposable" systems.
As an aside, I don't think I would have recognized Crutchfield... I
haven't seen him in person since about 2009 when he was doing an
art-project with Woody Vasulka and microphone/speaker/ambient-space
dynamical systems at the old bank building downtown? Or maybe it was a
few years earlier...
Deacon's classification system:
*homeodynamic:*A system is homeodynamic if its spontaneous, natural or
unforced path leads towards equilibrium. Homeodynamics erases
differences (e.g., in temperature or pressure).
*morphodynamic:*A system is morphodynamic if it tends to spontaneously
increase in order. This generally involves external perturbations, but
does not involve external design or imposition of form. Morphodynamics
subsumes many standard examples of self-organization. Morphodynamics
amplifies differences.
*teleodynamic:*A system is teleodynamic if its organization becomes
spontaneously end-directed. Teleodynamic systems employ homeodynamic and
morphodynamic processes in the service of a self. Terms like
‘self-maintenance’ and ‘self-repair’ become natural and unavoidable in
teleodynamic systems.
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