I’ve been reading some books and articles about “emergence”, the scientific and mathematical concept of how complex things or patterns such as traffic jams, living organisms, stock market crashes and bee hives “emerge” from a lot of stupid little things interacting together, following simple rules with no central commander. (Technically, these “little things” are called “cellular automa”; they continually decide what to do based on what those around them are doing). Our minds and our consciousness and intelligence may in fact be just an “emergence” from a lot of neuron cells in our brain acting under simple directives without any central guidance.
These books and articles are very interesting. But you can’t truly understand something unless you can get your hands on it, play around with it. When it comes to nuclear fusion, you obviously can’t fool around with it in your kitchen; so most of us will never really understand nuclear fusion. But emergence does lend itself to simple experiments on one’s home computer. You can set up some simple “emergence generators” using an MS Excel spreadsheet. I’ve been fooling around with one lately.
What I’ve learned from my own little emergence experiments is the importance of randomness and unevenness. Many of us curse randomness and unevenness. They’re just too unpredictable. We can’t control randomness, and unevenness just doesn’t seem right. What good is something that you can’t control and has an uneven mix? I myself tend to favor law and order.
I don’t think you want to hear all the details of my little spreadsheet experiment right now. However, I do sense a lesson from them, which I will try to share here. If the universe really does play by these rules, then randomness and disorder are just as necessary for life as law and order are. Without order, spontaneity would just make a useless mess of things. Without spontaneity, order would never get anything started. Opposites really do need each other to make things happen. Paradoxically, randomness causes intermittent clumps of order (e.g., four “heads” in a row in a series of 100 coin tosses). The “emergence machine” latches on to those clumps and weaves a pattern amidst the background static.
Just as an entertainment, here are some of the patterns that “emerge” on my little spreadsheet, based on slightly different rules. These are indeed mixes of law and randomness, order and anarchy.
Jim,
Well, now! Isn’t this extremely interesting.
A couple of things come to mind: I know Chaos Theory is not in fashion any more (or so I’m implied from some of the things I’ve read), but your randomness experiments remind me of the concept in Chaos Theory that says that eventually the chaotic forms itself into an evolutionary point where something develops. Although the word “randomness” is not used in Chaos Theory (they use “Chaos”–a DUH!, I know), isn’t the idea about the same thing? And haven’t you produced some very interesting sorts of pictures?
Then I wondered: Is randomness another word for creativity–or perhaps a new or different concept for creativity? If someone framed these “experiments” and hung them on a wall, couldn’t they be seen as interesting artistic concepts?
MCS
Comment by Anonymous — December 26, 2007 @ 7:35 am
Jim,
Well, now! Isn’t this extremely interesting.
A couple of things come to mind: I know Chaos Theory is not in fashion any more (or so I’m implied from some of the things I’ve read), but your randomness experiments remind me of the concept in Chaos Theory that says that eventually the chaotic forms itself into an evolutionary point where something develops. Although the word “randomness” is not used in Chaos Theory (they use “Chaos”–a DUH!, I know), isn’t the idea about the same thing? And haven’t you produced some very interesting sorts of pictures?
Then I wondered: Is randomness another word for creativity–or perhaps a new or different concept for creativity? If someone framed these “experiments” and hung them on a wall, couldn’t they be seen as interesting artistic concepts?
MCS
Comment by Anonymous — December 26, 2007 @ 7:35 am
Jim,
A comment or two about miscellaneous things:
First: I read your section in this website on meditation again just recently, and I am reminded of what I recently read from the Carthusians: Reading seeks, Prayer asks, Meditation finds, Contemplation feels. (From Guido II, The Ladder of the Four Rings)
I liked it: The four separate verbs seem just perfect–seeking, asking, finding, feeling, each a different level or concept of relating to however one conceives the spiritual.
Then I found another one: The Carthusians use the term “Quies” which is defined as “Leisure that is occupied; activity that is tranquil.” I also liked that very much. A goal to work for in life–but one that hardly crosses the mind of people today.
Lastly, something for Christmas: I read this in Sarah Miles (I think I’ve got her name right) in her book “Take and Eat.” (I think I’ve got that right too.) She quotes the Spanish (or Mexican) translation of “Incarnation”: “en su propria carne.” The exact translation of which is “in our own meat.” How very concrete that phrase makes the concept of the Incarnation: en su propria carne.
MCS
Comment by Anonymous — December 26, 2007 @ 7:54 am
Jim,
A comment or two about miscellaneous things:
First: I read your section in this website on meditation again just recently, and I am reminded of what I recently read from the Carthusians: Reading seeks, Prayer asks, Meditation finds, Contemplation feels. (From Guido II, The Ladder of the Four Rings)
I liked it: The four separate verbs seem just perfect–seeking, asking, finding, feeling, each a different level or concept of relating to however one conceives the spiritual.
Then I found another one: The Carthusians use the term “Quies” which is defined as “Leisure that is occupied; activity that is tranquil.” I also liked that very much. A goal to work for in life–but one that hardly crosses the mind of people today.
Lastly, something for Christmas: I read this in Sarah Miles (I think I’ve got her name right) in her book “Take and Eat.” (I think I’ve got that right too.) She quotes the Spanish (or Mexican) translation of “Incarnation”: “en su propria carne.” The exact translation of which is “in our own meat.” How very concrete that phrase makes the concept of the Incarnation: en su propria carne.
MCS
Comment by Anonymous — December 26, 2007 @ 7:54 am