A question for the emergentists among you

Posted by Robert Holmes on Oct 10, 2009; 1:58pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/A-question-for-the-emergentists-among-you-tp3799888.html

What's the point of determining whether a phenomenon is emergent or not? What useful stuff can I actually do with that knowledge?

In other areas of my life, classification can have actionable consequences. For example, I can use the sophisticated pattern-matching algorithms and heuristics embedded in my brain to work out that the three animals wandering through my house can be categorized as "cats" and not "dogs". And that is useful, because it tells me that I should buy cat food and not dog food when I go to PetCo.

So what is an equivalent example with emergence? Once I've attached the "emergent" label to a phenomenon, then what?

-- Robert

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