Patterns, Emergence & Self-Organization

Emergence & Self-Organization

What It Is	The production of patterns along various spatio-temporo-energy dimensions.
Why It Matters	Creating GMI (general machine intelligence) systems likely requires new methodologies that do not build on standard ways to build software systems, as used in traditional engineering and computer science, which were all created for use by existing general intelligences (humans). These typically consist of pipelines, a-priori hand-coding, update rates that depend on slowest sub-process, pre-compilation, etc., In seeking appropriate methodologies, to help our imagination adopt new paradigms it may help to look at the nature and behavior of systems that involve a different and more diverse set of principles.
Regularity	When the result of a comparison between two sets of data are found to overlap it is called *regularity. The overlap can be computed in various ways; different comparison methods resulting in different patterns. Regularity is hypothesized to be caused* by rules.
Patterns	Patterns arise in a system made of parts or components, where the whose components interact in multiple ways, following (hypothesized) rules.
What is Emergence?	In philosophy, systems theory, science, and art, emergence occurs when an entity is observed to have properties its parts do not have on their own, properties or behaviors that emerge only when the parts interact in a wider whole. Source: Emergence on Wikipedia
Related Concept: Complexity	Interaction between parts of a set of things, leading to a variety of patterns that include nonlinearity, randomness, collective dynamics, hierarchy, and emergence. Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Complexity

Examples of Self-Organization (Emergence)

Group Clapping	Try this in class: Start clapping; aim for clapping at the same rate as everyone else in the room. Self-organization without centralized control.
Conway's Game of Life	Link to Applet

Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction

What it is	A chemical reaction discovered in 1950.
Why it's important	Great visual example of the kind of emergent patterns can be created through auto-catalysis (chemical in this case). One of the first (the first?) scientifically published example of emergence identified as such.
Real version on Youtube	https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IBa4kgXI4Cg https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4y3uL5PRsZw&feature=related
Simulated Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction
Belousov-Zhabotinsky	Took almost a decade for Belousov to get the work published.
Source	Wikipedia

How the Belousov-Zhabotinsky Reaction Works

A Belousov–Zhabotinsky reaction, or BZ reaction, is one of a class of reactions that serve as a classical example of non-equilibrium thermodynamics, resulting in the establishment of a nonlinear chemical oscillator. Wikipedia

Cellular Automata

What it is	An algorithmic way to program interaction between (large numbers of) rule-determined “agents” or cells. Wikipedia
Why it's important	Powerful method to explore the concept of emergence. Also used for simulating the evolution of complex systems.
Explicates	Interaction of rules.
Typical manifestation	1D or 2D grid with cell behavior governed by rules of interaction. Each cell has a scope of what it “sees” (its range of “causal ties”).

CA Example 1

In this example

Green –> Brown IF one or more are true:
* There are more than 20 green patches around and lifetime exceeds 30
* There are less than 12 green patches around and lifetime exceeds 20
* The number of surrounding green patches > 25
* Lifetime > 60 ticks
Brown –> Green IF both are true:
* Number of surrounding green patches > 8 and heir lifetime combined > 80
* Number of surrounding brown patches > 10

Stephen Wolfram's CA Work

CA	http://mathworld.wolfram.com/CellularAutomaton.html
Book	A New Kind of Science.
Why it's important	Major analysis of rules for 1-D CAs. Most comprehensive work on CAs to date.
Rule 30	Very simple deterministic rule that gives rise to very complex seemingly random patterns. Source: Wikipedia

Videos of Emergent Phenomena

Corn starch shaken at audible frequencies: http://youtube.com/watch?v=WTCkVh9CWT8&feature=related

Corn starch shaken at 120 Herz: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bmyJdLiTRPo

Posable iron puck in a liquid-nitrogen-induced magentic field: http://youtube.com/watch?v=c3asSdngzLs&feature=related

The Weissenberg effect: http://youtube.com/watch?v=npZzlgKjs0I&feature=related

Ferromagnetic fluid: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jY72o-JAp0Q

And just in case you thought this talk about self-organization is mumbo-jumpo and a waste of time: https://newatlas.com/medical/self-assembling-molecules-suffocate-cancer-cells-hours/

Table of Contents