OK. I’m still kind of new to philosophy. So hopefully this will make sense.

I fill as though emergent property can be a good representation of our everyday lives. By that i mean there can be so many things that can appear to be nothing more then random happening’s but are still some how often connected to the bigger picture for example. I was recently in Austin Tx a few week’s ago and there is a huge colony of bat’s down there. And when you see all of those bat’s literally thousands winding their way through the sky each one individually flying in a seemingle random pattern and yet still some how the same general direction as part of a larger entity. It’s a really amazing sight. This also reminds my of people every one of us living our lives as an individual with our own hopes, dreams, and goals we wish to someday achieve but all to often forgetting that we to are part of a larger entity….. The human race and that even our most seemingly insignificant tasks as an individual can have a profound effect on not only our lives and the lives of the people around us but also the rest of the world as a whole.

Michael L

Oh Boy! The definitions I’ve seen don’t even look like English. This will take some time for me to decypher … and time is something pretty limitted at the moment. Just a quick look at it makes me think that what is being discussed might be similar to the Great Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup Debate. Peanut Butter — Good. Chocolate — VERY Good. Together — EXTRAORDINARY! But, an Emergent would believe that there is no synergistitic (thank you Bucky Fuller) result — that the whole is simply a combination of the parts. No magic, just chemistry. Would ET agree? Or would he phone home and get a concensus? If you think about it, an atomic explosion is the result of converting a very small amount of matter into energy … and BOY that’s a lot of energy … but a PREDICABLE amount of energy … but also a mind blowing (and city blowing) amount for an individual to comprehend.

So, is there a spiritual aspect to creativity or is it pure chemistry? Is “inspiration” more related to perspiration (natural/physical/biological) than spirit ? Can creativity be chemically induced (no thank you Timothy Leary)? Could I take an AM pill and suddenly be so charming that millions would love me? It would probably need to be in perscription strength in my case. Start an IV drip.

So … Is this even the discussion?

Deciding on going with a steel rooves rather than an asphault shingles this time around is more than enough to fry my brain at the moment.

Oh … maybe Emergent Properties has to do with Al Gore Rhythms. I never did get Al Gore Rhythms, but I do (obviously) enjoy Al Gore’s Internet!

According to George Henry Lewes, Emergence is a philosophical term of art, although I personally don’t understand whether he meant art itself or if he meant the human ability to produce works of art. But then my confusion isn’t really that surprising considering the emergentists themselves can’t seem to agree on a singular meaning.

Some people say that consciousness is an Emergent Property of the brain, which makes a little more sense to me. The human mind is certainly capable of evolving; this very website is proof of that! Now I’m not talking about the technological achievement involved in the creation of cyberspace, I mean the fact that hundreds of people, with different personalities, from all over the world can congregate in a single environment and instantly give respect to complete strangers that we may never physically meet.

Now we engage in conversations ranging from philosophy to saving the planet, yet 10 or 20 years ago not that many people seemed to care about “Helping Thy Neighbour!” Today, people are more aware of the world around them; it surprises me to learn that millions of people from all over the world know of my tiny country, yet my own government see the need to remove it from official maps and documents. Humanity is changing; we blog enthusiasts are not the only people acting this way. I have come across hundreds of television and radio shows, books, charity events, concerts and even people shouting in the streets, all centring on the betterment of humanity.

So if consciousness is an Emergent Property of the brain then evolution must be the result of this property working effectively!

Here’s to the evolution of consciousness!

Friday

sorry, Allison. Never heard of this term.

I wonder how many of the emergent properties around us and affecting us can really be described as patterns in the real world and to what extent they are a creation of the human consciousness.

It is amazing to see emergent properties in nature. When you see birds flocking or fish shoaling it is difficult to believe that there is not some force at work causing the sudden, synchronous shifts in direction. On the other hand, I ask myself how much of this is simply humans wanting to see patterns where none may exist. Augury used the patterns in bird flight as a means to predict the future over two thousand years ago, believing it evidenced either fate or divine will. While most people would agree that there must be some reason for it we would not ascribe it to supernatural causes. Seeing images in clouds and astrological signs in the stars are other examples where most would agree that people see the patterns they want to see – and in some cases they really have to work at it. I don’t know anyone who can recognise astrological signs in the stars!

Emergent human behaviour manifests itself in numerous ways, some as ‘simple’ as people’s reaction to music. I say ‘simple’ because although music is deeply personal thing and affects everyone differently, there is a deep, visceral response to it. As a ‘musical’ person who plays a few instruments I find myself tapping my foot to almost any music I hear, even when I really don’t like it (I actually find this really frustrating and sometimes quite embarrassing, does anyone else get this?). And why is it that when someone sees a sign saying wet paint, they simply have to touch it to see for themselves?

There are many famous truisms relating to human interaction. Some say that if there were only two people left on the planet, they would form two opposing camps. It is also said that the IQ of a large group of people is that of its lowest member – hence mob mentality, extending from the days of pitchforks and torches to modern riots. Does a single person in a mob have any more free will to act than a single bee in a swarm? I can’t think of any truisms off the top of my head allowing universal peace in human society, but there seems to be an emerging consensus on the future of the race. These futures tend to fall into two camps – utopia and apocalypse. There seems to be a consensus that either humanity will rise above our baser natures, or we will succumb to the darkness within and destroy ourselves. How many of these emergent theories are down to honest assessments of the natural progression of our society and how much is it down to mutual inspiration – cross contamination if you will? How much are our minds bound by the thoughts and expectations of those around us and those who have gone before – a social genome rather than a genetic one?

The other question is how much control do we have over these emerging characteristics? On one level, I have so far been able to resist putting my hand in the paint just to see if it’s still wet, but what would my reaction be if I were immersed in mob mentality? I would hope that I would be able to step back from the brink and make a rational assessment of my situation, and if enough people can do this then the mob has no power. For the most part, so far as I can see, when people gather in large numbers there is discord and dissension, even when so-called enlightened and educated people gather for conferences and symposiums. Sometimes, however, a consensus can be reached and progress can be made.

As a final thought, perhaps it is the emergent patterns of humanity that really enable us to identify those people with the greatest potential. It is the people who defy the patterns and buck the trends that stand out from the crowd. In the past this has sometimes made them pariahs, but in the long run it has been the people who defy the status quo who make an impact.

Great, I asked my dog, he removed his collar, gave it a half twist, reclasped it, nudged it towards me and said, “Mobius Band.” Now I’ll have to ask the cat … and all he gives me is attitude! Maybe if I don’t feed him for a while, then he’ll answer me.

The ferrot flattened herself out and went under the door. I guess I’ll have to wait for Darwin!

I’ve never heard of this before Allison. This one I have to Google.

Mutated, kryptofreak, Brainiac-infected mental powers would be a great asset right about now.

Thanks Michae L

“A property which a collection or complex system has, but which an individual member does not. ”

Mis-communication? Is that one? Joyce Brothers used to say, “Talking to yourself is absolutely normal … but if you find yourself answering “HUH?” then you might have a problem.”

Under-cooked chicken is often emergent.

That’s what i love about Allisons blog’s there’s always a great new topic. And you can learn somthing new every day just by visiting this site.

Another great thing is that, for the memory impaired, you can even read the old posts everyday and still learn something!

And for us posters with bad memories, embarrassing ourselves one day won’t keep us from coming back to post again!

I’m still trying to recover from a major hang over from yesterday and I entered your blog just to relax a little bit…
Do I need to say that my headache just get worst by now?

Ok……….. I’m not in the mood for philosophy right now so thats what I get from the “Emergent Property” through a straight alcoholized analytic point of view…

Emergent Property/Behaviour = label

Lets take my good friend beer from last night as an example.

You have many elements such as water, malted barley, hops etc that, separately, can exist and have their own meaning, but when they come all together in a perfect mix, we can label it as BEER.

And then you can go further on this reflexion….

You know that beers are different from each other (pale ale, stout and brown ale), and then you start categorize them by their behaviour…

The fermentation time will define one specific brand of beer, but it will not be less beer because of it.

Does that make any sense?

An emergent behavior or emergent property can appear when a sum of entities (agents) operate in a simple environment, forming complex behavior in the collective. The property itself is usually unpredictable and imprecendente, and represents a new level of development of systems. The complex behavior or properties are not the property of any entity in particular, and they can not be predicted or less the behavior of low-level entities. The format and behavior of the flock of birds is a good example of an emergent behavior

send me a e-mail please!!! i love your job and you!!

Hey guys, please watch the spamming. Also, this is not the place to discuss Smallville stuff, please take that to the Smallville forum.

I was surprised to see emergent properties as a topic because I’ve only come across this term in science, specifically chemistry and biology. I think MichaelL’s definition sums it up pretty well. And David Hayes’ Reeses analogy is on the right track. If I may throw my 2 cents into the bucket as well…

One way to think of emergent properties is the idea that the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. An emergent property is generally something that isn’t so much a property belonging to one of the parts, as it is something that arises from the INTERACTION of those parts. For example, hydrogen gas and oxygen gas are both highly flammable, but when they combine to form H2O, they form a new compound which, as we all know, isn’t flammable at all, and in fact, ironically, is often used to put out flames. Water itself also displays emergent properties that arise from the interaction of the water molecules themselves with each other – for example, water has a relatively high boiling point and significant surface tension, more than you would expect from simply the structure of H2O itself. Plus, unlike most other substances in nature, solid H2O is less dense than liquid H2O – in other words, ice floats in water, which is quite unusual. And all of these unusual properties are the result of how H2O molecules interact with each other.

Because emergent properties arise from interaction, they tend to come about as systems become more complex, as Edgar has noted. And you can see emergent properties all around us. For example, any kind of performance that requires the talents of a wide variety of people, whether it be film, or music, etc., ends up giving the audience a unique experience that couldn’t have come about from any of the parts alone. And in fact, you often hear about synergy or chemistry – that even if you have, for example, actors saying their lines and doing their job, that if they don’t really tune into each other and feed off of each other’s energy, that that is the difference between a good performance and a great one.

So to me, emergent properties are really all about interaction.

It has been suggested that language is another example of an emergent property. It has been theorised that most modern languages diverged from a single proto-language in pre-history, but it appears that modern languages now appear to be coming together again to a greater or lesser extent. How many words in modern English are lifted directly from other languages and used in conversation without a second thought? How many English words have been appropriated by other languages?

I read somewhere that when Hawaii was originally colonised, there were a wide range of different nations among the colonists, mixing with the native Hawaiians. The colonists could not initially communicate with each other and it was through the children playing with each other that Pidgen Hawaiian came about, using a mixture of words from English, Portuguese, Hawaiian, Cantonese and various other oriental languages. It was through this language that the colonists first became able to converse.

On the other hand the attempt to create an artificial language for everyone in the world to speak (Esperanto) crashed and burned, suggesting that emergent properties might only come about through natural evolution and cannot be forced.

We could analyse the “emo” behaviour based on “Emergent Property” as a way to practice what we learnt today here….

An emergent property……mmmm to me it’s when I discovered something new, something unexpected that changed my life and all around me. Like something that was always there but I was too blind to really see it.

I love these topics Allison, thanks to them I learn more about life and humans, more about how each of us really feel. Thanks for these beautiful and interesting topics Allison!

I humbly submit that you ask Kendra Voth about “emergent properties”:)

Your friend in artifactual philosophy
Scott123

Lou-
“sorry, Allison. Never heard of this term.

I have not as well. Must live in a cave.
*lol*

I took from the definitions I read that things ARE the sum of their parts (no more, no less) but act in ways en mass that is difficult to predict from the individual parts but CAN be understood if researched enough.

What I haven’t seen anyone mention here (but I’m not paying much attention) is that groups can not only work in seemingly miraculous ways … but also in disastrous ways.

*smiles*

I have often thought of myself as a radical novelty…

But on philosophy in general…

I have previously stated that a obtaining a degree in philosophy is like someone watching a dog chase it’s tail for four years.

To get a masters you write a paper about how watching the dog chase it’s tail has made you the smartest person in the room.

And the PHD requires that you contradict everything you wrote in your masters…while STILL maintaining thta you are the smartest person in the room.

VOLTAIRE said it this way: “When he who hears doesn’t know what he who speaks means, and when he who speaks doesn’t know what he himself means…that is philosophy.”

Or…

“A philosopher is a blind man in a dark room looking for a black hat whic is not there.”

Scottish poet W.E. Aytoun described it thus: “The science appeared to me an elaborate diabolical invention for mystifying what was clear, and confounding what was intelligible.”

“There is only one thing that a philosopher can be relied on to do, and that is, to contardict oher philosophers.” Wiilaim James…psycologist and philosopher