Emergent Systems

See also: EmergentBehavior, EmergentProperty

WardCunningham is really into these. -- StevenNewton

I'd like to learn more about them. What are they? Can you give me some examples?

GameOfLife? (See also UltraStructure, which could be relevant.)

Take a frying pan or skillet full of half opened paper-clips and shake it for a while. They will come out in chains and clumps. If not you didn't shake things long enough or you didn't open the clips up enough!

So: a collection of sticky but disconnected items tends to form clumps when shaken up -- long enough and if not shaken enough to fall apart and if they are stick enough.

[irony] {

   This is the answer to life, death, and the universe.

}

This is how my brain spells things:-{

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See Complexity : The Emerging Science at the Edge of Order and Chaos (ISBN 0671872346 ). (Note that the book is targeted at the general public, so it is not very technical)

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CategoryEmergence