Re: A question for the emergentists among you

Posted by Owen Densmore on Oct 12, 2009; 6:13pm
URL: http://friam.383.s1.nabble.com/A-question-for-the-emergentists-among-you-tp3799888p3809684.html

Robert: Just to help untangle the discussion: Are you saying a  
theoretical grounding for Complexity .. or even just Modeling ..  
appears to have no concrete use for you?

To be even more specific: Chaos has at least one definition:  
divergence.  It uses the Lyapunov exponent to define chaotic systems.

Thus would it be useful for you in a calculation to know whether it  
was inherently chaotic?

     -- Owen


On Oct 10, 2009, at 7:58 AM, Robert Holmes wrote:

> 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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