Some of the Principles of Creative Emergence include:
• The whole is greater than the sum of its parts
• It contains surprises and can seem like magic when they come together at a new level of coherence
• It is an evolutionary unfolding
• It "yes ands" - transcends and includes that which came before
it; ever increasing in inclusivity
• The known emerges form the unknown (the void) by a creative,
evolutionary impulse
• It increase in depth, complexity and purposefulness
• It is conscious and always seeking more life
An article on the web site, Integral Life, called "Exploring the Technium" that focuses on artificial intelligence and emergence of "conscious" technology speaks to these principles and others. To read the whole article, which is written by Corey W. deVos - about a dialogue between philosopher Ken Wilber and Kevin Kelly, Senior Maverick at Wired Magazine - click here. While I enjoyed the entire article and it's focus on intelligent machines, for spacial limitations on this blog, I have extracted the following parts particularly focused on emergence in general (which can be applied to all human systems):
The universe is evolving. From atoms to molecules, to simple single-cell organisms, to multi-cellular critters with increasingly complex nervous systems—evolution is a story of emergence, as new forms and new realities spring into being, new wholes that are themselves greater than the sum of
their parts. But emergence is a mysterious affair, as noted by Mark Bedau, Professor of Philosophy and Humanities at Reed College: "...logically possible, it is uncomfortably like magic."
...While humanity can be currently seen as the pinnacle of evolution in this corner of the universe, we are by no means the final word in this extraordinary story, and will one day be inevitably subsumed by something greater than ourselves—something that will undoubtedly emerge through us, while becoming something much more than us. Humanity represents a process of evolution becoming self-aware, which means that we are now actively participating with evolution, midwives to a future that simultaneously transcends and includes the entire human condition...
...In the beginning, there is nothing. There is nothing at all. There are no stars, no moon, no mountains or ocean or sky. There isn't even nothingness, not even the absence of absence. There is only pure reality—infinite, boundless, and silent. There is only pure unobstructed Awareness...
...A tiny point of light, impossibly bright, pierces through the Void. It is barely a pinprick, a pixel of light that somehow contains all space, all time, and all possibility...A universe is being born...
...Armed with creativity, curiosity, and conscience, man begins to fashion tools for himself—technological systems that evolve from foraging to horticulture, to agriculture, to industry, to informational, and beyond. These technologies pull worldviews up through increasing waves of depth, meaning, and inclusivity, growing from archaic to magic, to mythic, to rational, to pluralistic, to integral, and on into the future...
...Slowly mankind begins to understand its role in this evolutionary unfolding...mankind feels this very same creative force smoldering in his mortal heart...
...And so the evolutionary impulse continues to surge into the future, following the inherent tilt of the universe toward creative novelty...
Thanks, Dov. I look forward to reading those essays!
Posted by: Michelle James | November 23, 2008 at 06:31 PM