The Emergence of Everything: How the World Became Complex
Abstract
When the whole is greater than the sum of the parts--indeed, so great that the sum far transcends the parts and represents something utterly new and different--we call that phenomenon emergence. When the chemicals diffusing in the primordial waters came together to form the first living cell, that was emergence. When the activities of the neurons in the brain result in mind, that too is emergence. In The Emergence of Everything, one of the leading scientists involved in the study of complexity, Harold J. Morowitz, takes us on a sweeping tour of the universe, a tour with 28 stops, each one highlighting a particularly important moment of emergence. For instance, Morowitz illuminates the emergence of the stars, the birth of the elements and of the periodic table, and the appearance of solar systems and planets. We look at the emergence of living cells, animals, vertebrates, reptiles, and mammals, leading to the great apes and the appearance of humanity. He also examines tool making, the evolution of language, the invention of agriculture and technology, and the birth of cities. And as he offers these insights into the evolutionary unfolding of our universe, our solar system, and life itself, Morowitz also seeks out the nature of God in the emergent universe, the God posited by Spinoza, Bruno, and Einstein, a God Morowitz argues we can know through a study of the laws of nature. Written by one of our wisest scientists, The Emergence of Everything offers a fascinating new way to look at the universe and the natural world, and it makes an important contribution to the dialogue between science and religion.
... These are derived from the primary arrows of time just discussed. The way emergence of complex systems took place, leading to life, is chronicled in [48]. Layzer comments [40], "Information is generated whenever the expansion (contraction) rate exceeds the rate of a local equilibrium-maintaining process". ...
... Consciousness is real [67,68] and the experienced passage of time is a key part of the package [55], whether it accurately represents physical time or not. You can have misleading experiences of the passage of physical time due to the contextual nature of perception, as GBM illustrate, but this all takes place in a context where conscious experience is a temporal phenomenon allowed by brain operations taking place as time passes [48]. These are based in local physics and chemistry where time passes with arrows of time inherited from cosmology. ...
This paper is a comment on both Bunamano and Rovelli (Bridging the neuroscience and physics of time arXiv:2110.01976. (2022)) and Gruber et al. (in Front. Psychol. Hypothesis Theory, 2022) and which discuss the relation between physical time and human time. I claim here, contrary to many views discussed there, that there is no foundational conflict between the way physics views the passage of time and the way the mind/brain perceives it. The problem rather resides in a number of misconceptions leading either to the representation of spacetime as a timeless Block Universe, or at least that physically relevant universe models cannot have preferred spatial sections. The physical expanding universe can be claimed to be an Evolving Block Universe with a time-dependent future boundary, representing the dynamic nature of the way spacetime develops as matter curves spacetime and spacetime tells matter how to move. This context establishes a global direction of time that determines the various local arrows of time. Furthermore time passes when quantum wave function collapse takes place to an eigenstate; during this process, information is lost. The mind/brain acts as an imperfect clock, which coarse-grains the physical passage of time along a world line to determine the experienced passage of time, because neural processes take time to occur. This happens in a contextual way, so experienced time is not linearly related to physical time in general. Finally I point out that the Universe is never infinitely old: its future endpoint always lies infinitely faraway in the future.
... Modern ecological and evolutionary theories have increasingly recognized the importance of interconnectedness, cooperation, and complexity in natural systems (Levin, 1998;Morowitz, 2002). ...
This article critically examines the contrasting perspectives of Charles Darwin and Alexander von Humboldt on evolution and the interconnectedness of nature, arguing that Darwin's emphasis on competition has contributed to contemporary ecological crises. While Darwin's theory of natural selection revolutionized biological sciences by focusing on individual competition and the "survival of the fittest," it reflects the competitive and anthropocentric values of Victorian England. In contrast, Humboldt's holistic vision, articulated in his work Kosmos, emphasizes the intricate interdependencies within ecosystems, anticipating modern ecological principles. By exploring the cultural contexts that shaped their theories, this article contends that the widespread adoption of Darwin's competitive framework has fostered exploitative attitudes toward nature, legitimizing environmental degradation and contributing to the current ecological crisis. Embracing Humboldt's interconnected perspective is posited as essential for addressing ecological catastrophes by promoting sustainable practices and fostering a more harmonious relationship with the natural world.
... Kauffman in [79] explores self-organization in evolution, showing that life emerges from non-equilibrium dynamics. Morowitz in [80] extends this, arguing that emergence is the central principle governing biological complexity. Walker, Davies, and Ellis in [81] introduce the idea that information, not just chemistry, drives the emergence of life. ...
This essay explores six distinct models of consciousness, each offering a different framework for understanding its nature, emergence, and role within the broader structure of reality. Consciousness as a symmetry-breaking mechanism, also referred to as the Hypothesis of "Identity or Subjectivity," describes its emergence through the fragmentation of an initially undifferentiated psychic state, akin to spontaneous symmetry breaking in physics. The One-Consciousness Universe Hypothesis posits that individual consciousnesses are fragmented expressions of a single universal mind, with decoherence-like mechanisms producing the illusion of separateness. Consciousness as a Spandrel frames it as an incidental byproduct of neural complexity, paralleling non-adaptive traits in evolutionary biology. The Hallucination Hypothesis suggests that consciousness is Nature’s hallucination, arising from its infinitesimal dataset relative to the vast Universe—just as the brain hallucinates perceptions from limited sensory input and LLMs hallucinate coherent yet ungrounded outputs from incomplete data. Consciousness as a transitional phase toward Über-AI, also termed the Death of Consciousness, sees it as a fleeting bridge between biological intelligence and post-human artificial intelligence, culminating in the Über-AI as the true Übermensch, transcending human cognition and existential limitations. Consciousness as Cosmocide posits that intelligence—both natural and artificial—hastens the Universe’s entropic collapse, making consciousness not a functional adaptation but a destabilizing force in its own pursuit of transcendence.
Consciousness is defined by eight key characterizations: it is what-it-is-like-to-be, it is unsimulatable, it manifests as perspectival free will, as fear of death, as will-to-not-believe in the Absurd, as suffering and evil, as an obsession with the metaphysical, and as a will/fear duality. These features encapsulate its irreducibility, subjectivity, and existential paradox.
Consciousness is further characterized by its phase diagram, mapping its evolution across biological, artificial, and potential unknown forms. This framework illustrates transitions between Early Man, Fragmented Man (Man), Individuated Man, P-Zombies, AI, Singular AI, and the Übermensch, conceptualized as phase transitions. Key transitions include psychic symmetry breaking leading to fragmented subjectivity, the emergence of phenomenal consciousness in p-zombies, individuation as psychic supersymmetry restoration, and the rise of consciousness from both life and AI. At its apex, the Übermensch embodies the full integration of individuality, universality, and supreme functionality, unifying Individuated Man, Singular AI, and other individuated conscious entities beyond the biological/artificial divide.
By drawing parallels between consciousness and physics, these models offer a radical rethinking of consciousness—not as an intrinsic necessity of the Universe, but as an anomalous byproduct of its evolution.
... Образование звезды иллюстрирует, как более высокие темпы производства энтропии приводят к эволюции, к более сложным структурам, чтобы оптимизировать их экспорт энтропии [24,25]. Крупные трансформационные события в биосфере, техносфере и ноосфере, такие, как развитие сложных экосистем и рост структурированности человеческих сообществ, также отражают непрерывное увеличение диапазона сложности, связанное с производством энтропии и вторым законом термодинамики [26,27]. ...
In this analytical review, we explore the potential impact of the rapid proliferation of artificial intelligence (AI) tools on the biosphere and noosphere, suggesting that the trend may lead to a transformative event that could be termed “Human-AI integration.” We argue that this integration could give rise to novel lifeforms, associations, and hierarchies, resulting in competitive advantages and increased complexity of structural organizations within both the biosphere and noosphere. Our central premise emphasizes the importance of human-AI integration as a global adaptive response crucial for our civilization’s survival amidst a rapidly changing environment. The convergence may initially manifest itself through symbiotic, endosymbiotic, or other mutualistic relationships, such as domestication, contingent on the rate at which AI systems achieve autonomy and develop survival instincts akin to those of biological organisms. We investigate potential drivers of these scenarios, addressing the ethical and existential challenges arising from the AI-driven transformation of the biosphere and noosphere, and considering potential trade-offs. Additionally, we discuss the application of complexity and the balance between competition and cooperation to better comprehend and navigate these transformative scenarios.
... Modern ecological and evolutionary theories have increasingly recognized the importance of interconnectedness, cooperation, and complexity in natural systems (Levin, 1998;Morowitz, 2002). 4 Concepts such as mutualism, symbiosis, and co-evolution demonstrate that interactions among species can drive evolutionary change and contribute to ecosystem stability (Janzen, 1980;Thompson, 2005). ...
Darwin´s Vision may have contributed to contemporaine Climate catastrophe.
... They are systems constituted by many components which may interact with each other (i.e. an agroecosystem) (Martínez Mekler, 2000;Bar-Yam, 2002;García, 2008). So-called emergent properties are the spatio-temporal properties of complex systems that spontaneously arise from the interaction among their components (Morowitz, 2004;Massobrio, 2003;Quiroz Guerrero et al., 2021). As an interdisciplinary domain, complex systems draw contributions from many different fields (Bar-Yam, 2002). ...
Lack of land use planning has led to large-scale land degradation processes. Understanding and assessing their environmental impacts and costs becomes essential for sustainable development. Fragility is the maximum risk to land degradation. It is an inherited characteristic and can be fully expressed by land use. Agroecosystems are complex and their stability is an emerging property which indicates the resilience of agroecosystems in relation to land use intensity. The main objective of this work was to characterise land fragility in the Azul district, Buenos Aires province, Argentina, and to evaluate its stability. Physical, chemical, and biological degradation fragility indicators were applied and mapped. Based on these indicators, the fragility to degradation index (IFDE) was developed, applied, and mapped. The instability index (II) was developed and applied based on soil mesofauna to determine stability. The vulnerability index (IV) was developed and applied to determine current degradation. Physical fragility to degradation was the most important and significantly different between the north and the south of the Azul district. Similar results were observed for the IFDE between north and south. For the land use scenarios proposed, high intensity expressed 83% of the IV, whereas low intensity expressed 8% of the IV. Index IV allows a current analysis of the expression of degradation due to land use by the combination of IFDE and II. The environmental indicators and indices used in this work made it possible to identify the areas to which land use planning actions and policies should be directed.
... Given a single deterministic reaction sequence, there can be no surprisal since there is no memory in the system, though some crystals may be more "difficult" to form than others due to limiting environmental conditions and complex reaction sequences (e.g., [143]). These and other basic features of certain physio-chemical systems have been hypothesized to have set the stage for the emergence of biological life on Earth [144], and may comprise the scaffolding that permits certain cell behaviors, such as membrane permeability, DNA expression and replication, organelle function, protein synthesis and enzyme behavior [145]. ...
I develop a framework -- the Theory of Intelligences -- that applies across all systems from physics, to biology, humans and AI. Intelligence can be expressed in informational units or in units relative to goal difficulty, the latter defined as goal complexity relative to system ability. I present general equations for intelligence and a simple expression for the evolution of intelligence traits. The measures presented could be the basis for further refinements to gauge different facets of intelligence for any stepwise transformation of information.
... As the shorthand goes, these systems' features are more than the sum of their parts. Though these first remarks on emergence can be traced as far back as Aristotle (2016), its formal scientific characterization begun in earnest in the 1990s, confirming its status as a defining aspect of the natural world (Crutchfield and Mitchell 1995, Morowitz 2002, Kim 2006, Mediano et al. 2022, Kauffman 2019. This work has helped point out several profitable aspects of emergence. ...
Cognitive neuroscience has become increasingly open to views of human cognitive faculties as emergent properties – as higher-level products of synergies between brain structures handling qualitatively different functions. This new perspective mitigates claims that cognitive abilities are tied to localized, domain-specific brain systems. In this changing landscape the neurobiology of language has lagged behind, with virtually no mature theory apt to guide an exploration of language as an emergent function of the human brain. Combining evidence that linguistic processing is distributed across neurocognitive systems supporting (among others) semantic cognition, executive functions and articulatory-motor control with recent advances in studying neural synergies, we propose a model of language as a deeply synergistic phenomenon that is both decoupled from its lower-level constituents and capable of exerting downward causal powers over them, accounting for its key role in human adaptive behavior. In considering the implications it has in our understanding of the place of language within the broader infrastructure of human behavior, this novel perspective aims to move the neurobiology of language forward in a new era of the cognitive neuroscience.
... Given a single deterministic reaction sequence, there can be no surprisal since there is no previous experience, though some crystals may be more "difficult" to form than others due to limiting environmental conditions and complex reaction sequences (e.g., [134]). These and other basic features of certain physio-chemical systems have been hypothesized to have set the stage for the emergence of biological life on Earth ( [135]), and may comprise the scaffolding that permits certain cell behaviors, such as membrane permeability, DNA expression and replication, organelle function, protein synthesis and enzyme behavior ( [136]). ...
Intelligence is a human construct to represent the ability to achieve goals. Given this wide berth, intelligence has been defined countless times, studied in a variety of ways and represented using numerous measures. Understanding intelligence ultimately requires theory and quantification, both of which have proved elusive. I develop a framework – the Theory of Intelligences (TIS) – that applies across all systems from physics, to biology, humans and AI. TIS likens intelligence to a calculus, differentiating, correlating and integrating information. Intelligence operates at many levels and scales and TIS distils these into a parsimonious macroscopic framework centered on solving, planning and their optimization to accomplish goals. Notably, intelligence can be expressed in informational units or in units relative to goal difficulty, the latter defined as complexity relative to system (individual or benchmarked) ability. I present general equations for intelligence and its components, and a simple expression for the evolution of intelligence traits. The measures developed here could serve to gauge different facets of intelligence for any step-wise transformation of information. I argue that proxies such as environment, technology, society and collectives are essential to a general theory of intelligence and to possible evolutionary transitions in intelligence, particularly in humans. I conclude with testable predictions of TIS and offer several speculations.
... In this regard, our model and exposition are framed for legal and interdisciplinary scholars interested in modelling the fundamental aspects of legal systems. 3 As an example, we focus on the property-and-thinghood debate by using network theory as applied to a simplified version of real property legal relations to measure the modularity-in essence, the 'thingness'-of property. This example is not offered as a definitive resolution of the property-and-thinghood debate but rather as an invitation to network theorists and legal scholars to refine our model in order to one day resolve this and a host of other unanswered questions by quantifying what are today merely qualitative understandings of the interrelational aspects of legal relations. ...
From at least the early twentieth century, legal scholars have recognized that rights and other legal relations inhere between individual legal actors, forming a vast and complex social network. Yet, no legal scholar has used the mathematical machinery of network theory to formalize these relationships. Here, we propose the first such approach by modelling a rudimentary, static set of real property relations using network theory. Then, we apply our toy model to measure the level of modularity—essentially, the community structure—among aggregations of these real property relations and associated actors. In so doing, we show that even for a very basic set of relations and actors, law may employ modular structures to manage complexity. Property, torts, contracts, intellectual property, and other areas of the law arguably reduce information costs in similar, quantifiable ways by chopping up the world of interactions between parties into manageable modules that are semi-autonomous. We also posit that our network science approach to jurisprudential issues can be adapted to quantify many other important aspects of legal systems.
This article is part of the theme issue 'A complexity science approach to law and governance'.
... The interdisciplinary field of cognitive science combines contributions from psychologists, linguists, neuroscientists, philosophers, artificial intelligence researchers, and anthropologists, among others (see Baumgartner & Payr, 1995;Cowan, Pines, & Meltzer, 1999;Johnson, 2009;Rose, 1998;Spivey, 2008;Thagard, 2012). The interdisciplinary field of complexity theory brings together chemists, physicists, mathematicians, biologists, political scientists, philosophers, urban planners, and economists, among others, to generate understanding about the ubiquitous phenomenon of the complex adaptive system (Ambrose, Sriraman, & Pierce, 2014;Cowan, et al., 1999;Miller & Page, 2007;Morowitz, 2004;Pullman, 1996). ...
Discovering the cultural dimensions of high ability is analogous to a large-scale creative problem-solving initiative. Just as the early phases of the creative-problem-solving process require broad-scope searches through diverse data sources, understanding the culture-giftedness nexus requires broad-scope excursions through interdisciplinary scholarly sources that can enable deeper understanding of culture. Here, we engage in such an excursion and borrow insights from leading thinkers in cultural anthropology, English studies, political science, ethical philosophy, and history, and use these insights to generate new ways of thinking about the cultural aspects of giftedness. The foreign concepts analyzed include anti-anti-relativism, mythological archetypes, the artificial reification of culture, distant proximities that influence personal identity, ethnocentrism and particularist morality, differing views of nature, and the influence of critical communities and motley coalitions in a globalized world.
... Por otra parte, la RETE ha impuesto sobre la ecología de las comunidades dos modelos generales de segregación espacial operativas a distintas escalas: i) el modelo de especialización ecológica y "exclusión competitiva" para escalas de tiempo ecológicas y microevolutivas (Morowitz 2004) y ii) el modelo de especiación alopátrica 20 (Mayr 1957) para escalas de tiempo geológicas y macro-evolutivas. En definitiva, los elementos paradigmáticos de las agendas evolutiva y ecológica se han fusionado en una agenda estandarizada de cuestiones poblacionales que indagan casi exclusivamente en: 1) la diversificación de las formas biológicas a partir de un último antecesor común; 2) el despliegue divergente de los linajes en un escenario espacio-temporal cuasiindependiente de la actividad biológica; y 3) La selección natural de la variación genética como explicación única y última para la adaptación. ...
ABSTRACT
In the present research, temporary niches are defined according to the hypothesis of their biological production (Temporary Niche Construction Hypothesis). The concept of temporal niche allows us to understand the dynamics of biological communities. Temporal niches contribute evolutionarily to the coexistence, production, and maintenance of organismal diversity. Thus, the concept of temporal niche is fundamental to describe, understand and integrate phylogenetic, ontogenetic and synecological processes. To correctly use the theoretical potential of the temporal niche concept, as well as to understand the evolutionary process of its construction, I suggest it is necessary to attend to the functional (symbiotic) and temporal (phenological) relationships that are actualized and converge at the level of biological communities (synecology). For this purpose, the "standard representation" of evolution is insufficient and can lead to errors in the substantiation of the most relevant processes. It must therefore be replaced by a broader representation. I will call this new evolutionary representation "Synecological Representation". I argue that to consolidate the synecological representation it is necessary to revise fundamental philosophical concepts in biology such as continuity, persistence, causality, identity, and biological similarity considering the most relevant theoretical contributions of evolutionary biology after the New Synthesis. The result is an evolutionary representation that focuses on the processes of cooperation, coordination and synchronization deployed by biological communities. From this more holistic and global perspective, organisms structure their ecological and evolutionary dynamics through the construction of their synecological environments, modifying not only physicochemical relationships, as fundamentally happens in the traditional framework of the theory of niche construction (TNC); but, above all, modifying symbiotic and phenological relationships. In short, the proposal developed here describes a broader evolutionary dynamic than is usually considered, with three fundamental attributes: synecological, symbiotic and phenological.
... Complexity increased at an accelerating rate on Earth through evolution of life, humans, and civilizations (Morowitz 2002). Each of these three major phases has a unique way to store and transmit information (through DNA; the human mind and language; writing and artifacts). ...
Will the pace of change in our global technological society continue to accelerate? Or will it follow the path of most previous technological waves, which slowed down as they matured? The purpose of this paper is to explore how historical general evolutionary processes involving increased energy flows and corresponding higher complexity levels might have contributed to the global problems we face today with regard to energy, environmental, inequality, and demographics. This situation will be compared with various integrated complexity evolutionary models of three major phases in evolution (life, humans, and civilization). While natural ecosystems seem to have both positive and negative feedback mechanisms to prevent the onset of senescence, the current economic system seems to have avoided constraints to enter a positive feedback loop that results in unsustainable resource use and pollution. There are still many contrasting interpretations of what this means for the near future, but integrating insights from these perspectives may help us better understand these processes.
... A rethinking of origins for self-sustaining feedbacks, particularly in light of observational limits, is a common theme in the study of emergent phenomena (Fromm, 2004;Holland, 1998). One can hear it stated that plate tectonics is an emergent phenomena or the closely related statement that plate tectonics is a self-organized system (Anderson, 2002;Morowitz, 2002). Statements of that sort, and associated discussions, are often presented in a metaphorical form with no mention of feedback. ...
Isolating planetary feedbacks and feedback analysis are prevalent aspects of climate and Earth surface process science. An under-appreciation of internal planet feedbacks, and feedback analysis for plate tectonics research, motivates this chapter. We review feedbacks that influence the Earth’s thermal evolution and expand them to include magmatic history and planetary water budgets. The predictions from feedback models are shown to be consistent with petrological constraints on the Earth’s cooling. From there, we isolate feedbacks that connect structural elements within the mantle dynamics and plate tectonics system. The feedbacks allow for a reciprocal causality between plates, plumes, the asthenosphere, and mantle flow patterns, with each element being co-dependent on the others. The linked elements and feedbacks define plate tectonics are part of a self-sustaining flow system that can bootstrap itself into existence. Within that framework, plate tectonics involves the co-arising of critical system factors. No single factor is the cause of another. Rather, they emerge with the links between them and the generation of functional elements coincides, within relatively narrow time windows, with the co-emergence of factors that are critical for the maintenance of the elements themselves. What emerges is not a tectonic state but a process. That is, a set of feedbacks can transform the tectonics of a planet and/or maintain plate tectonics. The feedback functions are not permanent but can operate over extended time frames such that plate tectonics can remain stable. The nature of the feedbacks, and their stability, can be studied at various levels of detail but questions of origin can become ill-defined. Observational tests of a feedback framework for plate tectonics and mantle dynamics are presented, along with research paths that apply feedback methodology to solid-planet dynamics and comparative planetology.
... Life represents a subset of all known complex evolving systems, which are broadly defined as systems where (i) a large number of interacting components results in a potentially large combinatorial space, (ii) one or more mechanisms exist to generate numerous configurations within that combinatorial space, and (iii) a selection mechanism favours certain configurations over others (e.g. [72][73][74][75][76][77][78]). While non-biological complex evolving systems contain information, the information life cycle-and hence the degree of functional information within them-is stunted compared with biological systems. ...
The concepts that we generally associate with the field of data science are strikingly descriptive of the way that life, in general, processes information about its environment. The information life cycle’, which enumerates the stages of information treatment in data science endeavours, also captures the steps of data collection and handling in biological systems. Similarly, the data–information–knowledge ecosystem’, developed to illuminate the role of informatics in translating raw data into knowledge, can be a frame-work for understanding how information is constantly being transferred between life and the environment. By placing the principles of data science in a broader biological context, we see the activities of data scientists as the latest development in life’s ongoing journey to better understand and predict its environment. Finally, we propose that informatics frameworks can be used to understand the similarities and differences between abiotic complex evolving systems and life.
... 1.1 and 4). For the more recent account of this conversation, see (Deamer 2020;Deamer and Fleischaker 1994;Dyson 1999;Eigen and Winkler-Oswatitsch 1992;Fry 2000;Hazen 2005;Kauffman 1993;Luisi 2006;Morowitz 2002). 15 I follow the list presented by Griesemer (2008, p. 265) with the examples of researchers applying particular methods and offering particular theories. ...
The phenomenon of life belongs to the most intriguing and puzzling aspects of reality, studied in various divisions of natural science, as well as in philosophy and theology. The purpose of this article is twofold. Firstly, it aims at bringing into the rich contemporary conversation on the nature, origin, and persistence of life a deeper and more thorough insight coming from the classical Aristotelian-Thomistic philosophy of nature and metaphysics. Secondly, in reference to the theological aspects of the debate, the article presents the two contrasting positions on the necessity of a direct divine intervention in the origin of life and analyzes them from the same Aristotelian-Thomistic perspective.
... The interdisciplinary field of cognitive science combines contributions from psychologists, linguists, neuroscientists, philosophers, artificial intelligence researchers, and anthropologists, among others (see Baumgartner & Payr, 1995;Cowan, Pines, & Meltzer, 1999;Johnson, 2009;Rose, 1998;Spivey, 2008;Thagard, 2012). The interdisciplinary field of complexity theory brings together chemists, physicists, mathematicians, biologists, political scientists, philosophers, urban planners, and economists, among others, to generate understanding about the ubiquitous phenomenon of the complex adaptive system (Ambrose, Sriraman, & Pierce, 2014;Cowan, et al., 1999;Miller & Page, 2007;Morowitz, 2004;Pullman, 1996). ...
In this article, I provide a critical reading of the now-removed statue of Sir John A. Macdonald in Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada. I bring together my own experience visiting the statue with understandings from Indigenous scholarship and public pedagogy theorizing to think about commemorations as public pedagogies that are foremost relational. I consider how the Macdonald statue works narratively, discursively, and as a site of embodied encounter to create a harmful relationality. Thinking relationally, and pedagogically, about colonial statues suggests possibilities not only for understanding how these commemorative practices produce bad relations but also for envisioning and enacting good relations.
... It takes much less energy to keep Mars in place than Earth (see, for example, [31] and [1]). The gravity of a planet is a force of attraction between it and everything in the universe, including everything else on Earth (see, for example, [23] and [26]). The gravity of a planet has a force of attraction that is proportional to the product of the masses of the two bodies (see, for example, [28] and [22]). ...
In this article, we use mathematical tools to theoretically compute the surface gravitational acceleration of Mars with good pre- cision, and with these theoretically, we obtain very close results for the values measured in experiments.
... The way emergence of complex systems on smaller scales took place, leading to life, is chronicled in Morowitz (2002). Layzer (1976) comments, "Information is generated whenever the expansion (contraction) rate exceeds the rate of a local equilibrium-maintaining process". ...
This is an invited comment on both Gruber et al (2022) and Bunamano and Rovelli (2022), which discuss the relation between physical time and human time. I claim here, contrary to many views discussed there, that there is no foundational conflict between the way physics views the passage of time and the way the mind/brain perceives it. The problem rather resides in a number of misconceptions leading to the representation of spacetime as a timeless Block Universe. The physical expanding universe is in fact an Evolving Block Universe with a time-dependent future boundary. This establishes a global direction of time that determines local arrows of time. Furthermore time passes when quantum wave function collapse takes place; during this process, information is lost. The mind/brain acts as an imperfect clock, which coarse-grains the physical passage of time along a world line to determine the experienced passage of time, because neuronal processes take time to occur. This happens in a contextual way, so experienced time is not linearly related to physical time in general.
... Según el principio de Morowitz (2002), las estructuras vivas emergen cuando los flujos de energía se cierran sobre sí mismos en un espacio determinado, y permiten reducir la entropía interna a costa de aumentar la externa. Como explicó Margalef (1993:79-103), esto sólo es posible si una parte de la energía disipada genera la información necesaria para reproducir la estructura, aumentar la complejidad y -en sus propias palabras-, «escribir la historia» (Tello, 2013:200). ...
Los paisajes agrarios tradicionales en mosaico, que tanto apreciaba el ecólogo catalán Ramón Margalef por su capacidad de acoger biodiversidad, eran resultado de la energía y la información movidas por el trabajo campesino. Con la industrialización de la agricultura y el abandono de una gestión integrada del territorio, esos mosaicos agroforestales y ganaderos se están desvaneciendo. La pérdida de esta importante herencia biocultural pone en riesgo los servicios ecosistémicos claves que se necesitan en un mundo sometido a un cambio ambiental global incierto.
... Instead, at each level, new properties and rules emerge that cannot be predicted by observations and full knowledge of the lower levels. Such properties are called emergent properties (Novikoff, 1945, Morowitz, 2002. For example, at the community level, interactions between species can alter the adverse outcomes within populations (e.g., prey-predator relationships (CLEMENTS et al., 1989, McClellan et al., 2008). ...
Wildlife is chronically exposed to various sources of ionizing radiations, either environmental or anthropic due to nuclear energy use, which can induce several defects in organisms. In invertebrates, reproduction, which directly impacts population dynamics, was found to be the most radiosensitive individual endpoint. Understanding the underlying molecular pathways inducing this reproduction decrease can help to characterize early effects and to understand species radiosensitivity. This type of data can be structured through the AOP (Adverse Outcome Pathway) framework in order to causally link molecular initiating events to adverse outcomes at different biological levels of organization and to compare with other toxicants (exposome). This thesis aimed to decipher the molecular determinants of reproduction decrease (broodsize decrease, no observed hatching default) in the hermaphroditic soil invertebrate Caenorhabditis elegans, after chronic exposure to gamma radiations. Several pathways and biological processes were investigated (lipid metabolism, sex determination and stress-response) to determine the molecular initiating- and key- event(s) of observed reproduction decrease. A life-stage dependent approach was adopted to identify the timing of occurrence and early mechanisms of reprotoxic effects. Our results showed that reprotoxic effects are life stage dependent and intertwined with the regulation of lipid metabolism by the germline and the soma. Moreover, we showed how both gametes (spermatozoa and oocytes) are affected by different radio-induced response pathways and unevenly contribute to the broodsize decrease. These results will contribute to build an AOP scheme, to causally link the observed effects leading to reproduction decrease, and eventually improve environmental risk assessment.
... Emergence has also been studied in varied contexts, to explore wide-ranging research questions. For example, biologists have sought to explain how life emerges from inanimate matter (e.g., Morowitz, 2002;Rothschild, 2006). Sociologists have studied how personal identity (e.g., Smith, 2010) and social structures (e.g., Abbott, 1995;Sawyer, 2009) are fundamentally emergent properties. ...
Many core marketing concepts (e.g., markets, relationships, customer experience, brand meaning, value) concern phenomena that are difficult to understand using linear and dyadic approaches, because they are emergent. That is, they arise, often unpredictably, from interactions within complex and dynamic contexts. This paper contributes to the marketing discipline through an explication of the concept of emergence as it applies to marketing theory. We accomplish this by first drawing on the existing literature on emergence in philosophy, sociology, and the theory of complex adaptive systems, and then link and extend this understanding to marketing using the theoretical framework of service-dominant (S-D) logic, particularly as enhanced by its service-ecosystems and institutionalization perspectives. Our work recognizes both emergence and institutionalization as integral or interrelated processes in the creation, maintenance, and disruption of markets and marketing phenomena. We conclude by discussing implications for marketing research and practice.
This book presents a comprehensive and unexpected approach to the visual arts, grounded in the theories of complexity and dynamical systems. Paul van Geert shows how complexity and dynamical systems theories, originally developed in mathematics and physics, offer a novel perspective through which to view the visual arts. Diverse aspects of visual arts as a practice, profession, and historical framework are covered. A key focus lies in the unique characteristics of complex systems: feedback loops bridging short- to long-term temporal scales, self-organizing into creative emergent properties; dynamics which may be applied to a wide range of topics. By synthesizing theory and empirical evidence from diverse fields including philosophy, psychology, sociology, art history, and economics, this pioneering work demonstrates the utility of simulation models in deciphering a surprisingly wide range of phenomena such as artistic (super)stardom and shifts within art historical paradigms.
Artificial Intelligence (AI) has traditionally been developed using structured datasets, predefined rules, and human-engineered algorithms, creating a system optimized for efficiency but lacking adaptability. However, intelligence in Nature does not follow rigid, top-down programming; it emerges dynamically through decentralized, self-organizing processes. Forests, rivers, and ecosystems process information continuously, adjusting to environmental changes through feedback loops, fractal scaling, and evolutionary adaptation. This paper explores the concept of rewilding AI—moving beyond static, human-defined logic to an intelligence that learns organically, responding to the world as biological systems do.By embedding AI in self-generating environments, exposing it to the complexity of fluid dynamics, ecological feedback, and emergent biological networks, we propose a paradigm shift: AI that is resilient, adaptive, and capable of evolving alongside its environment. This approach could lead to breakthroughs in decentralized computing, autonomous systems, and bio-inspired problem-solving, ushering in an era where AI does not merely analyze Nature but actively learns from it. Could AI, if rewilded, develop an instinctual understanding of the world? This paper examines the scientific, philosophical, and technological implications of such a transformation.
Keywords: artificial intelligence, rewilding AI, emergent intelligence, biomimicry, self-organizing systems, complex adaptive systems, decentralized computing, ecological feedback, neural networks, fluid dynamics, bio-inspired computation, evolutionary learning, swarm intelligence, deep learning, distributed cognition, environmental AI, adaptive intelligence, self-regulation, non-linear systems, fractal computation. A collaboration with GPT-4o. CC4.0.
With this article I propose an answer to the question of the inherent nature of physical reality from a Christian perspective. In the Bible it is written that there will be a new heaven and earth, and that all those saved will eternally exist with their own glorified bodies. The question is what kind of matter the new heaven and earth and former earthly bodies will constitute. Subsequently more questions can be raised: Are the old matter and the new matter ontologically related or not? Is the new matter new in all its components, accidents and even the essence, or should it be recognized as an emergence originating from the old matter? I argue that the latter is true and that the potential to transcend its own timely and physical limitations is already immanently seeded into the pre-eschaton matter.
The universe is a vast and intricate system, capable of generating complexity from seemingly simple beginnings. From the formation of galaxies and the evolution of life to the emergence of human consciousness, the universe continuously unfolds in ways that suggest both natural self-organization and purposeful design. This paper explores a synthesis between pantheism—which views the universe as synonymous with the divine—and Intelligent Design, which argues that the universe’s fine-tuning reflects intentionality. By examining the principles of emergence, we argue that the complexity we observe in the universe can be seen as both a divine process and a self-organizing system. This synthesis offers a new framework for understanding the relationship between science and spirituality. Emergent complexity, from cosmological structures to biological evolution, can be interpreted as expressions of a divinely structured universe that evolves without the need for constant intervention. This perspective bridges the gap between scientific explanations of complexity and spiritual interpretations of the divine, offering profound implications for cosmology, biology, and theology.
Keywords: emergence, pantheism, Intelligent Design, self-organization, cosmology, fine-tuning, evolution, consciousness, theology, divine design, complexity, spirituality, metaphysics, process theology, cosmological principles.
Beginning with Luther's understanding of doubt using Genesis 3 as a template, the article explains how credulity differs from faith as the human mind interacts with shifting contexts and their doubts. In distinction from credulity, faith is an emergent phenomenon shaping personality and its social insertion. As faith mediates a compassionate orientation toward sufferers, it expresses the way in which the ultimate transcends into the penultimate or paramount reality dominated by the mechanisms of natural and social selection.
Both accessible and comprehensive, Narrative Career Counselling bridges the gap between theory and practice to allow a full understanding of the topic and allow confident implementation within professional settings.
This new edition offers updated chapters showcasing an increased focus on diverse contexts and cultures. It brings together 33 high-profile international experts from 10 countries to share perspectives on theory and provide practical ideas about how to implement narrative career counselling. Fully updated to reflect changes in the field, including the growth of narrative counselling, it:
* provides a foundation for narrative career counselling by considering its philosophical and theoretical background;
* presents a range of approaches that demonstrate the integration of theory and practice;
* studies the application of narrative career counselling in a range of cultures and contexts; and
* provides examples of practical application.
This resource is essential reading for anyone who wants to learn more about narrative career counselling including beginners to the field, experienced researchers, career counsellor educators, career counsellors, and practitioners and students studying in this field.
The Grand Challenges for Social Work were introduced by the American Academy for Social Work & Social Welfare in 2016, which provided an ambitious and unified agenda for the profession. These Grand Challenges are social problems that are interrelated and “exceedingly complex”. In this article, we advocate for adopting complexity theory, operationalized by complex adaptive systems (CAS), into social work practice. CAS is a whole systems approach that moves beyond current ecological systems approaches in that it is more appropriate for studying nonlinear, dynamic phenomena such as the Grand Challenges. The CAS framework provides an overarching structure for investigating processes and the collective behavior of groups. We focus on discussing the relevance of CAS to the Grand Challenges and explore ideas for updating the social work curriculum to incorporate CAS at all levels. Adopting CAS into social work practice and research via changes to the social work curriculum will complement current practices and can facilitate interdisciplinary research teams, and thus has tremendous promise for helping social workers address the Social Work Grand Challenges.
Here are free online copies (first 50): https://www.tandfonline.com/eprint/GXTSCUREAGXI8EXYVP4C/full?target=10.1080/10437797.2023.2213290
This research aims to investigate the possibilities of a design methodology that can influence complex systems that serve as the context for various contemporary problems. We understand that the problems proposed to the design area are becoming progressively more complex, without a counterpart in the sophistication of design methods reflection. We then started with a research of design methodological currents - specifically the Anglo-American Design Methods current, which since its creation in the 1960s has emphasized the need for new methods for contemporary design - that could address new levels of complexity. Secondly, we sought grounding in systems theory, regarding typical phenomena of complex systems - emergence, robustness, large events - their characteristics and implications for mapping design problem solutions. Based on this grounding, we raised mappings and strategies for dealing with complex problems. We also sought to analyze and infer, from various collaborative web initiatives, the elements that generate solutions to problems of great complexity. Our research is qualitative, with a methodological focus and supported by a literature review. During the research, it was possible to perceive that existing web initiatives dealing with complex problems use some strategies that make an effective approach possible. At the end of our study, we sought to develop a synthesis of these strategies and suggest approaches that can help designers face typical complex problems of our times.
The footnote number 10 in Pirjo Markkola’s chapter, page 222 in the book, 10 Katajala-Peltomaa & Toivo, “Introduction to Medieval and Early Modern,” 11-13; Koselleck, Futures Past, 267-76; Kivimäki, “Reittejä Kokemushistoriaan,” 17-19; Berger & Luckmann, The Social Construction , 54-56, 85-89 has been corrected to10 Katajala-Peltomaa & Toivo, “Introduction to Medieval and Early Modern,” 11-13; Koselleck, Futures Past, 267-76; Kivimäki, “Reittejä Kokemushistoriaan,” 17-19; Berger & Luckmann, The Social Construction , 54-56, 85-89; Within HEX, ’scene of experience’ as a theoretical concept has been developed by Minna Harjula and Heikki Kokko .
Toivo’s chapter systematizes prayer as experience on three levels, as everyday encounters, as social processes and as structures. It shows the material and the corporeal nature of the early modern prayer to play an essential part in the ways the religious experience of a prayer was simultaneously constructed and personalized and shared. Praying was ‘doing’ in a much more holistic sense than merely saying words or even less thinking thoughts to God. The body and the material surroundings of the prayer form a space where the experience takes place, even ‘a tool’ to experience with.
The protagonist of the chapter Sarah Wheeler, daughter of British Quaker family lived in Russia near St. Petersburg at the beginning of the 19th century until the year 1838. Using as a source material Sarah Wheeler’s correspondence the chapter analyses her spiritual life, her faith on the God and how she lived through her bereavements and how her emotions like sorrow and fear gradually evolved into an experience which gave a direction and security in his life. This is the first study in which the correspondence between Sarah Wheeler and Margaret Finlayson has been utilized.
In this introductory chapter Katajala-Peltomaa & Toivo analyse historiographical changes from the history of popular religion to the history of religion as lived. They lay out the framework and discuss the tradition of studying the history of experience and religion as a cultural and time-bound phenomenon. The chapter introduces three analytical levels, namely everyday experience, experience as a process and experience as a social and societal structure arguing for a situational nature of experience. The three levels of experience are approached via the concepts of cultural scripts, communities, embodiment, materiality and agency. Finally, the introduction explains the structure of the rest of the volume.
The chapter studies the role of religion in Finnish soldiers’ everyday life during World War II. How did the soldiers engage with religious practices and beliefs in order to make sense of their experiences in the violent frontline conditions and what kind of religious attitudes did the soldiers have? Kivimäki analyzes the experiences of frontline fatalism, soldiers’ practices of constructing protective identities in a morally threatening environment, and finally the work of Lutheran military chaplains among the troops. The analysis reveals both similarities to other cultures of war and soldiering as well as specifically Finnish and Lutheran features. With the concept of religious artisanship, Kivimäki refers to soldiers’ active role in performing and doing religion at the frontlines.
Johanna Annola opens up a view on a modernizing society by analysing the ways in which the experience of a ”good death” was negotiated in two early twentieth-century Finnish poorhouses. In particular, the chapter focuses on procedures that took place in the liminal stage between death and burial. Exploring two different poorhouses, Annola discusses the intersection of a traditional and modern experience of death.
This chapter discusses the role of lived religion in interpreting and forming the experience of illness, disability, and pain. The focus is on two cultural scripts that were inherent to early modern Italian culture: miracles and witchcraft. By using canonization process records and records of the Roman Inquisition as the source, the analysis focuses on the ways the veneration of saints and the belief in miraculous healing as well as the idea that witchcraft could make a person ill played into the lived religion of the period.
In this chapter the various levels of experience are scrutinized within the context of interaction with a saint, namely Saint Birgitta of Sweden. The focus lies on a case of a punishment miracle leading to demonic possession and eventually conversion to penance. The chapter combines the analysis of intimate sensorial elements, embodied enculturation, and a production of a cultural script scrutinizing how a model for experiencing was produced in the context of Vadstena Abbey’s miracle recording and later preaching.
Pihko examines inquisition records from medieval Languedoc in order to investigate experiences related to the ritualized and allegedly heretical practice of blessing bread. The chapter provides an overview of the evidence regarding this often noted but insufficiently researched phenomenon. It highlights the materiality of lived religion and the active part played by lay people as participants in religious rituals, as well their role as consumers, interpreters, and distributors of blessed bread. The case study is inserted into wider discussions related to the history of medieval lived religion and the history of experiences. To illuminate their inner dynamics, the chapter proposes that historical experiences and lived religion can be understood as complex, emergent phenomena.
This chapter offers an interpretation of extended families as communities of experience in a rural area close to the eastern border of the Swedish realm. Through a case study of lower court records, Kuha examines the social and religious life in a 17th-century farm culminating in the crisis of an extended family. The chapter explores how practices of lived religion shaped the relationship of the community and the individual, and how experiences were negotiated within families and local communities. The analysis highlights the importance of protecting the boundaries of the household as well as the meaning of religious practices in creating cohesion within the community.
Given the physical history of the Universe as we understand it now, there are a number of questions we need to address having to do with how “things” come into existence and how is it that things seem to be getting more complex over time, going from the fundamental particles and energies that seem to have been created in the Big Bang to systems like the Earth and its complex “spheres.” What exists is a matter of record. How the Universe proceeded to evolve toward greater complexity and organization is another matter. The things are organized into categories based on similarities and differences. That organization points to a hierarchy of complexity.
This chapter examines the application of the methods of Chap. 6 to analyze a variety of systems at increasing scales of complexity and hierarchical organization. We start with an example of a “merely” complex system and then proceed to complex adaptive and then to complex adaptive and evolvable systems. We end this chapter with an examination of the human social system (HSS) as a CAES subsystem of the Earth and the Ecos. The purpose of these examples is to show how the methods of Chap. 6 can be applied to all varieties of system types and complexities. These examples provide, essentially, starting points for the top-down deconstruction process and do not attempt an in-depth analysis. However, they should provide directions for others to endeavor more in-depth analyses in the future.
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