Emergence (was Wheatley Dialog LO10331)

Michael McMaster (Michael@kbddean.demon.co.uk)
Wed, 2 Oct 1996 22:20:26 +0000

Replying to LO10289 --

Bill uses a term in his reply to Howell that muddies the waters of
the complexity field. "Emergence" is a term of cause and effect
which is not amenable to:

> 2. Many of the most important system behaviors emerge from, can be
> explained by (small snip) their micro structures.

Emergence (as used in evolution) says the term applies to new levels
(of complexity) coming into being that:
- are not simply rearrangements of pre-existing elements
- the characteristics are qualitatively, not just quantitavely,
unlike anything that previously existed
- the emergent phenomenon was unpredictable not only on the basis of
the knowledge available prior to its emergence but even on the basis
of ideally complete knowledge of hte state of the cosmos prior to its
emergence. (The Encyclopedia of Philosophy, Macmillan)

Another way of talking about emergence is that the qualities and
characteristics of one order cannot be predicted nor remain the same
as another order.

That is, no matter how well we understand individuals, we cannot
extrapolate that to an understanding of how organisations will
function.

Emergence cannot be explained by reductionist science.

--
Michael McMaster :   Michael@kbdworld.com
book cafe site   :   http://www.vision-nest.com/BTBookCafe
Intelligence is the underlying organisational principle
    of the universe.    Heraclitus 	
 

Learning-org -- An Internet Dialog on Learning Organizations For info: <rkarash@karash.com> -or- <http://world.std.com/~lo/>