But we may have to have a useful conversation about emergence in order
to talk about soul, consciousness, or spirit.
Merle
Nicholas Thompson wrote:
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] <mailto:[email protected]>)
http://home.earthlink.net/~nickthompson/naturaldesigns/
<http://home.earthlink.net/%7Enickthompson/naturaldesigns/>
----- Original Message -----
*From:* Victoria Hughes <mailto:[email protected]>
*To: *The Friday Morning Applied Complexity Coffee Group
<mailto:[email protected]>
*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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FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
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============================================================
FRIAM Applied Complexity Group listserv
Meets Fridays 9a-11:30 at cafe at St. John's College
lectures, archives, unsubscribe, maps at http://www.friam.org
