7.2 Emergent Phenomena

Useful Links

1. Lesson Slides
2. Website Page

Learning Goals

After this lesson, students should

1. Understand that simple things governed by simple rules can, in aggregate, result in surprisingly complex behaviours, which can be studied in and of themselves.
2. Be aware of when complex behaviours in some physical and sociological systems may be the consequence of relatively simple rules on the constituents, and therefore not fully explicable by either reductionism or deliberate agents.
3. Be aware of humans' tendency to overperceive agency in external phenomena in general (e.g. anthropomorphizing), making us prone to mistaking emergent phenomena as intentional.

Definitions

• Term

  Explanation.

Examples

• Social media

  When people are highly connected to each other in social networks with simple rules of interaction (likes, friending, retweeting, etc.), unintended emergent phenomena, such as widespread misinformation, are likely to arise.

• Water

  Water is wet, but water molecules are not. The property of "wetness" must emerge from the relatively simple rules that govern the interactions between water molecules.

• Conway's Game of Life

  A classic demonstration of cellular automata, in which simple local rules result in complex patterns arising on a larger scale.

• Shelling neighbourhood segregation model
• Consciousness as a result of local interactions between neurons

Common Misconceptions

• YouTube is promoting late night talk show hosts over smaller individual creators. It must mean that the YouTube executives are deliberately stifling small content creators.

  While such a conspiracy is still possible, it is also likely that the rules that govern the recommendation algorithm result in this emergent phenomenon, when it was not the executives explicit intention.

Context

[Explanation of how the current topic into the larger context of the course by explaining how the previous topic(s) relate to the current topic and leaving cliffhangers for future topics where relevant throughout the lesson]

Before

X.X Lesson Name

Explanation.

• Itemized explanation.

After

X.X Lesson Name

Explanation.

• Itemized explanation.

Recommended Outline

Before Class

• [Any essential logistical things that need to be done for this class]
• Prepare a seating chart.
• Review PlayPosit and discussion questions and ask faculty, Gabriel, or Emlen any questions you have.
• (Optional) Prepare a presentation.

During Class

• (5 min) Come up with some fun way to assign the roles of spokesperson and notetaker (e.g. earliest birthday in the year, lives furthest from campus). Remind them of the responsibilities of these roles.
• ([#] min) [Description of some module from #Lesson Content]

After Class

• [Any essential logistical things that need to be done as followup for this class]
• Collect answers from notetakers for the forum / plenary.

Lesson Content

Shelling Neighbourhood Segregation Model

[Brief description of and motivation for the activity]

Discussion Questions

1. Question 1
   1. Subquestion a

   2. Subquestion b