according to Wikipedia emergence is
conceived as a process where
these patterns and regularities arise
through interactions among smaller or
simpler entities that themselves do not
exhibit such properties
in the previous section we discussed how
synergistic relations give rise to the
phenomena of two or more elements having
a greater combined output or effect than
the simple product of each in isolation
this process whereby the interaction
between elements gives rise to something
that is greater than the sum of their
parts is called emergence
so whereas when we were talking about
synergies we simply said that the
combined effect was greater than its
parts in isolation the concept of
emergence though implies that what is
created out of these synergistic
relations is not just quantitatively
different it is in fact qualitatively
different that is to say none of the
elements that contribute to the
emergence of this new phenomena have its
qualities when taken in isolation
there are many examples of this but
maybe the simplest is the example of
water water is made up of hydrogen and
oxygen atoms neither of these two
elements that make up the system have
the property or quality of wetness but
when we combine them we get a substance
called water that has the quality of
being wet this property of wetness has
emerged out of the interaction of the
system's elements and it only exists on
the system's level
another often cited example of emergence
is the phenomena of life biological
systems such as a plant cell consist of
a set of inanimate molecules
none of which in isolation have the
property of life but it is the
particular way that these elements are
arranged into structures and processes
that enable the emergent phenomena of
the living system as an entirety
our world is full of examples of
emergence that we could cite from ant
colonies to galaxies and cultures but
all of these are types of structures
whereas emergence is really a process
these systems are then the product of a
process of emergence that has played out
to create two qualitatively different
levels to the system
emergence then is a process through
which systems develop or we might say
grow during this process unassociated
elements interact synchronized to form
synergies and out of this emerges some
new and novel phenomena that previously
did not exist
in order to create some qualitatively
different and new phenomena the system
must go through what we call a phase
transition a phase transition is an
often rapid or accelerated period during
the process of a systems development
either side of which the fundamental
parameters with which we describe the
system can change qualitatively
again there are lots of examples of this
such as the phase transition between
solid and liquid that a substance goes
through when heated but maybe the most
dramatic example is the metamorphosis of
a butterfly from being a caterpillar to
a mature adult
not only does the system's morphology
change but the whole set of parameters
that we define it with are so
drastically altered prior and post the
phase transition that we give the
creature a whole new name
this illustration helps to bring us to
another important theme with an
emergence that is the distinction
between what is called strong and weak
emergence
week emergence describes how the
emergent phenomena can be traced back to
the individual elements meaning we can
predict and observe higher-level
emergent phenomena just by looking at
individual components in contrast strong
emergence also known as irreducible
emergence states that these phenomena
cannot be reduced to the individual
components instead the emergent
phenomena are traced back to the
interactions between the multiple
components so quite literally cannot be
predicted in any sense by looking at the
components on their own
consciousness is often cited as an
example of strong emergence it would
appear that without prior knowledge or
experience of what consciousness is it
would be virtually impossible to
understand the vastly complex and subtle
system that is human consciousness by
analyzing the properties of the very
simple neurons that formulate it
this distinction between strong and weak
emergence may also be formulated within
the language of information theory where
weekly emergent phenomena are
essentially computable that is to say if
we had sufficient information we could
simulate them in contrast with strongly
emergent phenomena no amount of
information could predict or formulate
the end result of the process prior to
its completion
the discussion of strong and weak
emergence leads us to another key theme
in system theory that is hierarchy the
distinction between micro and macro and
top-down versus bottom-up causality all
of which we will be talking about in the
next lecture