Difference between revisions of "Emergent Behavior"
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==Full Title or Meme== | ==Full Title or Meme== | ||
| − | Emergent Behavior refers to the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. | + | [[Emergent Behavior]] refers to the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. |
==Context== | ==Context== | ||
| + | The behavior of a complex system might be considered emergent if it can’t be predicted from the properties of the parts alone. | ||
* [[Emergent Behavior]] refers to the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence refers to the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. It is also the most striking feature of [[Self-organization]]. | * [[Emergent Behavior]] refers to the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence refers to the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. It is also the most striking feature of [[Self-organization]]. | ||
* Emergent properties are those that are not present in the individual components of a system but arise from their interactions<ref>Timothy O’Connor, ''Emergent Properties'' Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2020) https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/properties-emergent/</ref> | * Emergent properties are those that are not present in the individual components of a system but arise from their interactions<ref>Timothy O’Connor, ''Emergent Properties'' Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2020) https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/properties-emergent/</ref> | ||
| − | * Emergence lives in the place between | + | * Emergence lives in the place between dependence and autonomy, between predictable and random. It tries to explicate the dualism of the world, which extends even to the dualism of [[Quantum Mechanics]] where the fundamental parts are neither waves that travel through space or particles that are observed as events, but rather show the behaviors of both. |
| − | * Historically we can track the idea that the whole was greater than the sum of its parts to Plato<ref>Verity Harte ''Plato on Parts and Wholes'' Oxford UP (2002) </ref> but the first use of the term '''emergent''' is in George Lewes<ref>George Henry Lewes, ''Problems of Life and Mind. First Series: The Foundations of a Creed'' Vol. 2. Boston: Osgood. (1875) section 65 and 66 ''Results and Emergents'' https://www.google.com/books/edition/Problems_of_Life_and_Mind_The_principles/0J8RAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1</ref><blockquote>Although each effect is the resultant of its components, we cannot always trace the steps of the process, so as to see in the product the mode of operation of each factor. In the latter case, we propose to call the effect an emergent. It arises out of the combined agencies, but in a form which does not display the agents in action … Every resultant is either a sum or a difference of the cooperant forces; their sum, when their directions are the same – their difference when their directions are contrary. Further, every resultant is clearly traceable in its components, because these are homogeneous and commensurable … It is otherwise with emergents, when, instead of adding measurable motion to measurable motion, or things of one kind to other individuals of their kind, there is a cooperation of things of unlike kinds … The emergent is unlike its components in so far as these are incommensurable, and it cannot be reduced to their sum or their difference.</blockquote> | + | * Historically we can track the idea that the whole was greater than the sum of its parts to Plato<ref>Verity Harte ''Plato on Parts and Wholes'' Oxford UP (2002) https://philosophy.yale.edu/publications/plato-parts-and-wholes</ref> but the first use of the term '''emergent''' is in George Lewes<ref>George Henry Lewes, ''Problems of Life and Mind. First Series: The Foundations of a Creed'' Vol. 2. Boston: Osgood. (1875) section 65 and 66 ''Results and Emergents'' https://www.google.com/books/edition/Problems_of_Life_and_Mind_The_principles/0J8RAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1</ref><blockquote>Although each effect is the resultant of its components, we cannot always trace the steps of the process, so as to see in the product the mode of operation of each factor. In the latter case, we propose to call the effect an emergent. It arises out of the combined agencies, but in a form which does not display the agents in action … Every resultant is either a sum or a difference of the cooperant forces; their sum, when their directions are the same – their difference when their directions are contrary. Further, every resultant is clearly traceable in its components, because these are homogeneous and commensurable … It is otherwise with emergents, when, instead of adding measurable motion to measurable motion, or things of one kind to other individuals of their kind, there is a cooperation of things of unlike kinds … The emergent is unlike its components in so far as these are incommensurable, and it cannot be reduced to their sum or their difference.</blockquote> |
| + | ===Scaling=== | ||
| + | [[Emergent Behavior]] seems to appear at all scales. For example the patterns that developed in the human brain can be compared to patterns at the Cosmic scale.<ref>F. Vazza and A Feletti, ''The Quantitative Comparison Between the Neuronal Network and the Cosmic Web'' Frontiers https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physics/articles/10.3389/fphy.2020.525731/full</ref><blockquote>We investigate the similarities between two of the most challenging and complex systems in Nature: the network of neuronal cells in the human brain, and the cosmic network of galaxies. We explore the structural, morphological, network properties and the memory capacity of these two fascinating systems, with a quantitative approach. In order to have an homogeneous analysis of both systems, our procedure does not consider the true neural connectivity but an approximation of it, based on simple proximity. The tantalizing degree of similarity that our analysis exposes seems to suggest that the self-organization of both complex systems is likely being shaped by similar principles of network dynamics, despite the radically different scales and processes at play.</blockquote> | ||
==Problem== | ==Problem== | ||
| − | * Many parts of our world, perhaps even the entire universe, | + | * Many parts of our world, perhaps even the entire universe, seem to be too complex given the very simple rules that the elemental parts' behavior could not possibly predict. |
* One does not need to understand [[Quantum Mechanics]] to describe a tornado or attempt to predict its path. | * One does not need to understand [[Quantum Mechanics]] to describe a tornado or attempt to predict its path. | ||
* [[Identity Model]]s are constructed to describe complex [[Ecosystem]]s that have component parts that are constantly changing, yet the identifier of the living organisms in an [[Ecosystem]] can have [[Identifier]]s that work well for years or even eons. | * [[Identity Model]]s are constructed to describe complex [[Ecosystem]]s that have component parts that are constantly changing, yet the identifier of the living organisms in an [[Ecosystem]] can have [[Identifier]]s that work well for years or even eons. | ||
| − | *Everything is in flux. You cannot step twice into the same river, for it is not the same river and you are not the same person.<ref>Heraclitus, (500 BC) https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-explain-in-a-very-simple-way-the-saying-No-man-ever-steps-into-the-same-river-twice</ref> | + | *Everything is in flux. Heraclitus staid: "You cannot step twice into the same river, for it is not the same river and you are not the same person."<ref>Heraclitus, (500 BC) https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-explain-in-a-very-simple-way-the-saying-No-man-ever-steps-into-the-same-river-twice</ref> Or by another translation: "Into the same steams on those stepping in, different things and different waters flow."<ref>Adam Nicolson, ''How to Be'' ISBN 978-0374610104</ref> Each river is, in some sense, the same river, but always different, always emerging into some other [[Identity]], but with the same [[Identifier]]. |
==Solution== | ==Solution== | ||
| + | Scientists and Philosophers have been trying to analyze and categorize [[Emergent Behavior]] for a long time with the only result being the realization that we do not have the models or even the frameworks to build models that help us to understand. Finally from the chaos an idea of a framework is emerging (self-reference intended.)<ref>Philip Ball, ''The New Math of How Large-Scale Order Emerges'' 2024-06-10 https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-new-math-of-how-large-scale-order-emerges-20240610</ref> | ||
| + | * A framework has been proposed to enable a deeper understanding of the multi-level structure of complex systems, revealing specific ways in which they can be efficiently simulated, predicted, and controlled.<ref>Fernando E. Rosas +6, ''Software in the natural world: A computational approach to hierarchical emergence'' Cornell Uni 2024-02-18 https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.09090</ref> As with many theoretical treatments, this framework operations with level separation and information closure, while the real world has close ties between the information processes and the real-world feedback.<blockquote>[The authors] articulate a view on emergence based on how software works, which is rooted on a mathematical formalism that articulates how macroscopic processes can express self-contained informational, interventional, and computational properties. This framework establishes a hierarchy of nested self-contained processes that determines what computations take place at what level, which in turn delineates the functional architecture of a complex system. This approach is illustrated on paradigmatic models from the statistical physics and computational neuroscience literature, which are shown to exhibit macroscopic processes that are akin to software in human-engineered systems.</blockquote> | ||
* For biological ecosystems an [[Emergent Behavior]] arises from evolution. Once an organism is born, it will have some genetically determined behaviors at birth. After birth it will learn new behaviors to match the environment where it lives. | * For biological ecosystems an [[Emergent Behavior]] arises from evolution. Once an organism is born, it will have some genetically determined behaviors at birth. After birth it will learn new behaviors to match the environment where it lives. | ||
* For [[Artificial Intelligence]] or other complex computer systems, an [[Emergent Behavior]] is one that was not expected during the programing of the system. | * For [[Artificial Intelligence]] or other complex computer systems, an [[Emergent Behavior]] is one that was not expected during the programing of the system. | ||
| + | |||
| + | ==Physics and Computing== | ||
| + | * Birds flock. Locusts swarm. Fish school. Within assemblies of organisms that seem as though they could get chaotic, order somehow emerges. The collective behaviors of animals differ in their details from one species to another, but they largely adhere to principles of collective motion that physicists have worked out over centuries. Now, using technologies that only recently became available, researchers have been able to study these patterns of behavior more closely than ever before.<ref>Steven Strogotz, ''How Is Flocking Like Computing?'' Quanta (2024-04-28) https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-is-flocking-like-computing-20240328/</ref> | ||
==References== | ==References== | ||
[[Category: Glossary]] | [[Category: Glossary]] | ||
| + | [[Category: Philosophy]] | ||
| + | [[Category: Psychology]] | ||
| + | [[Category: Physics]] | ||
[[Category: Artificial Intelligence]] | [[Category: Artificial Intelligence]] | ||
Latest revision as of 13:53, 22 October 2024
Contents
Full Title or Meme
Emergent Behavior refers to the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions.
Context
The behavior of a complex system might be considered emergent if it can’t be predicted from the properties of the parts alone.
- Emergent Behavior refers to the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. Emergence refers to the way complex systems and patterns arise out of a multiplicity of relatively simple interactions. It is also the most striking feature of Self-organization.
- Emergent properties are those that are not present in the individual components of a system but arise from their interactions[1]
- Emergence lives in the place between dependence and autonomy, between predictable and random. It tries to explicate the dualism of the world, which extends even to the dualism of Quantum Mechanics where the fundamental parts are neither waves that travel through space or particles that are observed as events, but rather show the behaviors of both.
- Historically we can track the idea that the whole was greater than the sum of its parts to Plato[2] but the first use of the term emergent is in George Lewes[3]
Although each effect is the resultant of its components, we cannot always trace the steps of the process, so as to see in the product the mode of operation of each factor. In the latter case, we propose to call the effect an emergent. It arises out of the combined agencies, but in a form which does not display the agents in action … Every resultant is either a sum or a difference of the cooperant forces; their sum, when their directions are the same – their difference when their directions are contrary. Further, every resultant is clearly traceable in its components, because these are homogeneous and commensurable … It is otherwise with emergents, when, instead of adding measurable motion to measurable motion, or things of one kind to other individuals of their kind, there is a cooperation of things of unlike kinds … The emergent is unlike its components in so far as these are incommensurable, and it cannot be reduced to their sum or their difference.
Scaling
Emergent Behavior seems to appear at all scales. For example the patterns that developed in the human brain can be compared to patterns at the Cosmic scale.[4]We investigate the similarities between two of the most challenging and complex systems in Nature: the network of neuronal cells in the human brain, and the cosmic network of galaxies. We explore the structural, morphological, network properties and the memory capacity of these two fascinating systems, with a quantitative approach. In order to have an homogeneous analysis of both systems, our procedure does not consider the true neural connectivity but an approximation of it, based on simple proximity. The tantalizing degree of similarity that our analysis exposes seems to suggest that the self-organization of both complex systems is likely being shaped by similar principles of network dynamics, despite the radically different scales and processes at play.
Problem
- Many parts of our world, perhaps even the entire universe, seem to be too complex given the very simple rules that the elemental parts' behavior could not possibly predict.
- One does not need to understand Quantum Mechanics to describe a tornado or attempt to predict its path.
- Identity Models are constructed to describe complex Ecosystems that have component parts that are constantly changing, yet the identifier of the living organisms in an Ecosystem can have Identifiers that work well for years or even eons.
- Everything is in flux. Heraclitus staid: "You cannot step twice into the same river, for it is not the same river and you are not the same person."[5] Or by another translation: "Into the same steams on those stepping in, different things and different waters flow."[6] Each river is, in some sense, the same river, but always different, always emerging into some other Identity, but with the same Identifier.
Solution
Scientists and Philosophers have been trying to analyze and categorize Emergent Behavior for a long time with the only result being the realization that we do not have the models or even the frameworks to build models that help us to understand. Finally from the chaos an idea of a framework is emerging (self-reference intended.)[7]
- A framework has been proposed to enable a deeper understanding of the multi-level structure of complex systems, revealing specific ways in which they can be efficiently simulated, predicted, and controlled.[8] As with many theoretical treatments, this framework operations with level separation and information closure, while the real world has close ties between the information processes and the real-world feedback.
[The authors] articulate a view on emergence based on how software works, which is rooted on a mathematical formalism that articulates how macroscopic processes can express self-contained informational, interventional, and computational properties. This framework establishes a hierarchy of nested self-contained processes that determines what computations take place at what level, which in turn delineates the functional architecture of a complex system. This approach is illustrated on paradigmatic models from the statistical physics and computational neuroscience literature, which are shown to exhibit macroscopic processes that are akin to software in human-engineered systems.
- For biological ecosystems an Emergent Behavior arises from evolution. Once an organism is born, it will have some genetically determined behaviors at birth. After birth it will learn new behaviors to match the environment where it lives.
- For Artificial Intelligence or other complex computer systems, an Emergent Behavior is one that was not expected during the programing of the system.
Physics and Computing
- Birds flock. Locusts swarm. Fish school. Within assemblies of organisms that seem as though they could get chaotic, order somehow emerges. The collective behaviors of animals differ in their details from one species to another, but they largely adhere to principles of collective motion that physicists have worked out over centuries. Now, using technologies that only recently became available, researchers have been able to study these patterns of behavior more closely than ever before.[9]
References
- ↑ Timothy O’Connor, Emergent Properties Stanford Encyclopedia of Philosophy (2020) https://plato.stanford.edu/entries/properties-emergent/
- ↑ Verity Harte Plato on Parts and Wholes Oxford UP (2002) https://philosophy.yale.edu/publications/plato-parts-and-wholes
- ↑ George Henry Lewes, Problems of Life and Mind. First Series: The Foundations of a Creed Vol. 2. Boston: Osgood. (1875) section 65 and 66 Results and Emergents https://www.google.com/books/edition/Problems_of_Life_and_Mind_The_principles/0J8RAAAAYAAJ?hl=en&gbpv=1
- ↑ F. Vazza and A Feletti, The Quantitative Comparison Between the Neuronal Network and the Cosmic Web Frontiers https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/physics/articles/10.3389/fphy.2020.525731/full
- ↑ Heraclitus, (500 BC) https://www.quora.com/How-do-you-explain-in-a-very-simple-way-the-saying-No-man-ever-steps-into-the-same-river-twice
- ↑ Adam Nicolson, How to Be ISBN 978-0374610104
- ↑ Philip Ball, The New Math of How Large-Scale Order Emerges 2024-06-10 https://www.quantamagazine.org/the-new-math-of-how-large-scale-order-emerges-20240610
- ↑ Fernando E. Rosas +6, Software in the natural world: A computational approach to hierarchical emergence Cornell Uni 2024-02-18 https://arxiv.org/abs/2402.09090
- ↑ Steven Strogotz, How Is Flocking Like Computing? Quanta (2024-04-28) https://www.quantamagazine.org/how-is-flocking-like-computing-20240328/
