Jed_Harris comments on The Futility of Emergence - Less Wrong

36 Post author: Eliezer_Yudkowsky 26 August 2007 10:10PM

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Comment author: lessdazed 06 August 2011 08:13:25PM 2 points [-]

Aren't the labels arbitrary?

Let's use sharpness.

Non-sharpness is not usually considered as an example of emergence. Because the non-sharp system is composed of smaller subsystems which are themselves non-sharp. Same goes for non-ferromagnetism. Not "emergent" because nothing new is emerging from the collective that was not already present in the components.

Let's use bluntness.

Non-bluntness is not usually considered as an example of emergence. Because the non-blunt system is composed of smaller subsystems which are themselves non-blunt. Same goes for non-ferromagnetism. Not "emergent" because nothing new is emerging from the collective that was not already present in the components.

That humans say "sharp", "blunt", "conductive", and "non-conductive" in English is due to circumstances of culture, technology, what minerals are abundant on Earth, etc. At least, I don't know the word, if there is one, for non-conductive.

To the extent "sharp" and "blunt" are not opposites, I apologize for the imperfect example.