From: jimruttshow8596
Complexity Science is described as a “brand new science” that is “really only about 35 years old” [00:28:35]. In the context of complexity, emergence refers to a phenomenon where “lower level things interacted together to produce a higher level thing which was not easily predictable from the nature of the lower level thing” [00:28:46].
Complicated vs. Complex Systems
A key distinction is drawn between a “complicated system and a complex system” [00:27:00].
Jim Rutt
“human devices even very very complicated ones like a nuclear power plant or a 787 can be decomposed into understandable components take it apart and put back together again you literally cannot take a cell apart and put it back together again and expect it to work because it’s a it’s a series of unbelievably complicated processes” [00:26:27]
The behavior of a complex system “emerges to produce the behavior of the cell and then the organism” [00:26:52].
Emergence in Natural Systems
Life
The emergence of life is an example of emergence, where “life emerged from these single cells to multi-cells to complicated creatures to animals” [00:29:10]. DNA, for instance, “contains very little information” [00:25:59] and “is not a blueprint” [00:26:07]; instead, it defines “a whole series of lower level processes which emergently result” in life [00:26:12]. This process of emergence makes life fundamentally “different than any human engineered device” [00:26:25].
The universe appears to have a “drive towards increased complexity in life” [00:56:51], despite instances where “some forms of life have gotten simpler” [00:57:03] (e.g., parasites). The existence of eyes, having “evolved like a dozen times in in various lineages” [00:35:15], is offered as an example of a “purposeful” or “teleological” tendency in the universe [00:55:50], indicating that certain things “seem to be so important that they do evolve” [00:55:52].
Matter
Even in the inanimate world, “complex systems” exist [00:29:34]. The “fluid and slippery notion of water can be said to emerge from the structure of hydrogen and oxygen as formed together to make water molecules” [00:32:27].
Consciousness and Emergence
The idea that consciousness “emerges from biochemistry” [00:27:48] is viewed with skepticism because “nobody has the slightest idea how that could happen” [00:28:01]. The argument is made that a true emergence requires a “little bit of consciousness or foreshadowing of consciousness” at lower levels, which is not evident [00:33:55]. Without such a precursor, using the term “emerge” for consciousness is likened to “black boxing a difficult area and… waving our hands and going a miracle happens here” [00:34:16]. It is argued that “consciousness… is a different phenomenon altogether” [00:36:54] than simply complex biological processes.
Scale and Prediction
The principle that “scale matters” [00:32:59] is important for understanding emergence. While atomic or molecular levels may be “murky” [00:31:48], “when you get aggregate behaviors more does matter” [00:31:53]. Emergence “produces a new layer in which interactions occur and that the details of the lower level no longer become significant” [00:32:16]. This means that “what an atom is exactly and what exactly an electron is actually doesn’t turn out to matter much with respect to how organic chemicals interact with each other when they are emergent aggregates of these fundamental particles” [00:32:25].
The Universe’s “Potentia” for Life and Consciousness
The universe is described as being “fertile for life at some level and then for consciousness” [01:08:11]. This concept, referred to as “potentia,” suggests that the universe “contains within it the potential for these things to happen” [01:02:10]. This “potential has extraordinary value maybe even more value than what is actualized” [00:55:07]. This perspective offers a way to consider the fine-tuning of the universe without resorting to “infinite number of universes” [01:00:26] or an anthropomorphic “God” [01:01:57]. Instead, the universe “has tendencies which as it were put their hands in the scale makes certain outcomes more common” [01:01:50].
The Fermi Paradox
Regarding the Fermi Paradox, which questions the absence of observable alien intelligences [01:08:39], the perspective of “potentia” implies that while the universe is “propitious to life” [01:10:15], it doesn’t mean life has to be “everywhere” [01:10:21]. The fact that “there is a place where there is life confirms that there is that in potentia in the cosmos” [01:11:00].