What is emergence: Definition and 39 Discussions

In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors that emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole.
Emergence plays a central role in theories of integrative levels and of complex systems. For instance, the phenomenon of life as studied in biology is an emergent property of chemistry.
In philosophy, theories that emphasize emergent properties have been called emergentism.

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  1. C

    A Is the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect an emergent property?

    I do not think that true emergent properties -- as defined by behavior of matter that cannot be reduced to fundamental physical law -- exist. Yet I have been told that the Fractional Quantum Hall Effect is an example of an emergent property. What is the consensus?
  2. shunyadragonvv

    I Quantum decoherence and the emergence of space/time and gravity

    Quantum decoherence. and the emergence of continuous space/time and gravity In another forum I have experienced a lot of combative dialogue asserting that continuous time/space is a property of the smallest Quantum scale. My present knowledge indicates this not true, and that the goal of the...
  3. Question69

    The Emergence of Classicality -- Is Decoherence accepted among physicists?

    I have tried to study decoherence theory for a while now, and it does seem to answer why classical distributions arise, instead of quantum ones.Is this fully accepted as an explanation for a classical world out of a quantum one?
  4. pinball1970

    The first emergence of the Earth's crust earlier than first thought

    This was in the METRO UK so I did a quick search over lunch Here is the article...
  5. P

    AdS/CFT electromagnetic wavefunction emergence

    If an electomagnetic wave like blue light, for example, exists in 3 dimensions, then how does/can the AdS/CFT conjecture explain it's emergence? Are the electric and the magnetic components of the blue wave both in 2 dimensions in CFT, and if so how would they combine and emerge into AdS to form...
  6. J

    I From Micro to Macro physics (Emergence)

    Let's say Mary has mastered every microscopic physics from quantum theory to particle physics. But she hasn't encountered iron or other macro objects. Can she predict using say a super computer at her disposal the properties of macroscopic objects? Let's say the super computer can assemble the...
  7. M

    I Emergence of Complexity and Life

    Life, on first glance, appears to violate the second law of thermodynamics. This is because we see an apparent increase in complexity over time, i.e. a decrease of entropy. The resolution of this apparent violation is supposed to be that the sun provides enough energy and expends enough entropy...
  8. atyy

    I Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime

    Something Deeply Hidden: Quantum Worlds and the Emergence of Spacetime Sean Carroll https://www.amazon.com/dp/1524743011/?tag=pfamazon01-20 Review of the book by Matt Leifer Does the many-worlds interpretation hold the key to spacetime? https://physicstoday.scitation.org/doi/10.1063/PT.3.4366
  9. Curiose

    WaveGrid - Non-equilibrium Emergence Sandbox

    [Mentors' note: one short paragraph of speculation in violation of the Physics Forums rules has been removed from this post] Follow the link below to play with my experimental sandbox. The rest of this post includes some instructions for use and then observations and a little bit of theory...
  10. M

    I Exploring Emergence: Examples, Theory, and Experiments for a School Project

    For a school project, I've got to choose a subject. I chose "Emergence", but I have to narrow it down a little bit. So, that's why I'm creating this topic. The definition of emergence that I use: By emergence, I mean the fact that proprieties of one scale implies other proprieties by changing...
  11. S

    B Superconductivity & Quantum Emergence

    Hello, Is Superconductivity an example of emergence where you can't predict it's occurence by just working with the Schroedinger Equation? If Superconductivity is an emergence, what do you call those none emergence processes? Perhaps some examples would enlighten. Thanks to all those who can...
  12. K

    A Ed Witten on Symmetry and Emergence

    Ed Witten posted an interesting article on arXiv a few days ago on the fate of global symmetries in physics beyond the Standard Model. You can read it here. In particular, Witten argues that the global symmetries of the Standard Model are all approximate and emergent at low-energy, and they...
  13. Deepak K Kapur

    B What is the reason for the Emergence of properties?

    Water molecule has different properties from either oxygen or hydrogen atom. My question is 'Are these properties of water molecules totally new or were these properties already lurking around in the oxygen and hydrogen atoms?' Thanks.
  14. felici95

    A Emergence of spin 2 particles from lowers spin particles

    I was referring a lecture series by Professor Hong Liu. In his first lecture on Emergence of gravity he says, "massless spin-2 particles (gravitons) can arise as bound states in a theory of massless spin-1 (photons, gluons) and spin- 1 particles (protons, electrons)". What does it exactly...
  15. J

    The Laws and Rules of Emergence in Spacetime and Matter Fields

    Are their specific laws or rules in emergence? For example, temperature is emergence from the underlying particles. Superconductivity is emergence from the cooper pairs. It seems you can turn off emergence by say increasing the temperature to disable the cooper pairs. In temperature, how do you...
  16. Urs Schreiber

    Insights Emergence from the Superpoint - Comments

    Urs Schreiber submitted a new PF Insights post Emergence from the Superpoint Continue reading the Original PF Insights Post.
  17. AtomicPunk

    Emergence of much smaller stars in early Universe?

    Anyone have any insight concerning the latest research underway at Heidelberg University... concerning the "smaller than once thought" earliest stars? Any thoughts on why these 'smaller than once thought stars' also contain carbon, when at this early stage of star formation in a very young...
  18. T

    Is there a difference between Emergence & QM Amplification?

    I recently read the published article: Stuart Hameroff, How quantum brain biology can rescue conscious free will. Front Integr Neurosci. 2012; 6: 93. PMCID: PMC3470100 http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3470100/ From this it seems that current neuroscience views consciousness as an...
  19. E

    Ray A Reflection & Emergence: True or False?

    Homework Statement The net deviation of ray A(Figure(i))) in counter clockwise direction after one reflection and emergence is 180+2i-4r (True False) Homework Equations The Attempt at a Solution I don't know how to begin to solve this problem, so there is no attempt at a solution.
  20. E

    C.200 mya - K-T 65 mya: emergence of mammals, coexistence w/ dinosaurs

    The following summary is derived from my 2003 biology textbook: Biology: concepts and applications, 5th edition, by Cecie Starr, published by Brooks/Cole, Thomson Learning. (I took biology 101 in fall 2004. This is not homework, but rather for my self-study and interest.) Chapter 24...
  21. B

    Nested VMs and the emergence of AI

    Hope this is the right place for this... This is a thought experiment, so please ignore the clumsy description of the process. Imagine a virtual machine running programs to design, test improvements, and produce a more sophisticated implementation of itself. It does this by creating a...
  22. P

    Relationship Between Uncertainty and Emergence (neuroscience)?

    A huge common misconception about brain function is that function can be localized to "very" specific locations. However, reductionism falls apart when speaking about emergent phenomenon such as higher order brain functions (e.g. feeling of knowing, consciousness, visio-spatial processing). Just...
  23. MTd2

    Emergence of Superstring from Pure Spinor

    http://arxiv.org/abs/1106.3548 Emergence of Superstring from Pure Spinor Ichiro Oda (Submitted on 17 Jun 2011) Starting with a classical action where a pure spinor $\lambda^\alpha$ is only a fundamental and dynamical variable, the pure spinor formalism for superparticle and superstring is...
  24. V

    Correspondence Principle vs Emergence

    There is this so called Correspondence Principle which wiki mentions "used more generally, to represent the idea that a new theory should reproduce the results of older well-established theories in those domains where the old theories work." But how do you tie up Correspondence Principle with...
  25. marcus

    Percacci at Woit's on emergence

    Roberto Percacci had comment on emergence at Woit's blog in reply to this by "H.M." http://www.math.columbia.edu/~woit/wordpress/?p=3123&cpage=1#comment-61076 H.M.:"...You have to understand the difference between emergence and reductionism. The prevalent idea in high energy physics is...
  26. marcus

    Is the GLO definition of emergence a good one? (Girelli Livine Oriti)

    This is how GLO define emergence on page 18 of their March 2009 paper: http://arxiv.org/abs/0903.3475 Let us first of all clarify what we mean by emergence. We call “emergent” some degrees of freedom which are only defined in a given regime, and there in terms of more fundamental degrees of...
  27. O

    Emergence & Religion: Could We Create a God?

    I've been thinking a lot lately about the phenomenon of emergence. Basically, where a system exhibits properties that no individual elements of that system possess. For instance, water possesses myriad properties that could not be directly inferred from examining a single water molecule in...
  28. 0

    Beam emergence from cylindrical lens

    if a cylindrical lens is put in the path of a laser beam what is expected to be seen at its focal plane? how will the beam look like after emerging from it?
  29. wolram

    The Emergence of Beyond the Standard Model: What We've Learned

    When did beyond the standard model become an acceptable topic, and what has it added to our knowledge?
  30. J

    String Theory & Emergent Spacetime: Investigating a TOE Possibility

    At the end of David Gross' UC Berkeley public lecture on string theory he mentions that emergent spacetime may play an important role in TOE. Are there any string theorists researching this?
  31. marcus

    Loeb's perspective on emergence of structure

    This is an invited review paper by a worldclass authority, so it could be useful. http://arxiv.org/abs/0804.2258 Let there be Light: the Emergence of Structure out of the Dark Ages in the Early Universe Abraham Loeb (Harvard) 32 pages, 18 figures, an invited review for the UNESCO EOLSS...
  32. Q_Goest

    Weak and Strong Emergence, what is it?

    The idea of weak and strong emergence seems to be one that is easily confused. I've seen numerous mentions of "emergence" in the literature without classifying which they are talking about. Many times it seems the author wants to imply strong but is really only looking at a weakly emergent...
  33. K

    Monotheism and the emergence of science

    I am doing this research paper. In it, i will argue that monotheistic religion help promote the emergence of science. Do you have any ideas on this topic? Any nice links? research papers from periodicals? books?
  34. C

    What is emergence and how does it differ from reductionism?

    Can someone please explain the idea of emergence when compared to the reductionist point of view? What is the value of this idea?
  35. R

    Emergence: Ontological or Epistemological?

    Emergence is currently used in both reductionist or "anti"-reductionist senses, being ambiguous the current expression " the whole is more than the sum of parts". It is clear the epistemological use of the term emergence. Entropy is an obvious example. A macroscopic description arises from a...
  36. D

    Pointlike particles and the emergence of classicality

    I've got some conceptual problems on how to interpret the emergence of a classical world, in which, i can't walk through walls, by what is in quantum mechanics described as dimensionless energy 'particles' who have manifested themselves out of the collapse of the wave function (by whichever...
  37. S

    Laughlins theory of emergence?

    I'm having a very time finding any techinal papers on Bob's "theory" of emergence. I liken it to a interpretational aspect of QM and am very interested to find more on the subject. Trying to find it on the net at least for me is next to impossible. Could anyone help me out here please? Thanks in...
  38. M

    Emergence; Do you want the blue pill ? or the red pill ?

    "Remember, all I'm offering is the truth. Nothing more." One of those question that I see asked over and over, is how can there be highly complex life without some prior highly complex agent to create it. Here’s the truth of the matter, the complexity we observe developing is only a...
  39. marcus

    Can you explain Emergence of a 4D World ?

    Can you explain "Emergence of a 4D World"? Can anyone help explain the new paper "Emergence of a 4D World from Causal Quantum Gravity" by Ambjorn, Jurkiewicz, Loll? http://arxiv.org./hep-th/0404156 [Broken] ten pages involves monte carlo simulations (computer experiments)
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