I know about it, I’ve seen videos of it, but I have no idea how it works, or why it’s important. I mainly don’t get why it’s become to infamous.
In: Mathematics
“Emergence” is the concept which states that **a complex system can arise from small simple interactions**. In other words, a bunch of little simple things that interact with each other can result in an enormously complex thing. *The collection of a things can have properties not present in any of the individual things.* The implications are vast.
For example:
* Individual ants are mega-dumb, each behaving under very simple rules. However, a colony of ants is collectively intelligent and able to solve complex problems.
* Water molecules are individually quite simple compared to other molecules, yet water as a whole is one of the most OP, broken, exploitable things in nature. Who would look at a water molecule and predict that freezing a bunch of them would produce intricate snowflakes?
* The human conscience is a result of electrical impulses getting bounced around by really basic brain cells. Modern AI is a result of many *many* simple multiplication tables that collectively find, store and reproduce complex patterns.
Conway’s Game of Life is like the most obvious illustration of this concept. Dude came up with it over 50 years ago and we are still discovering new things about it. [People have made a Game of Life pattern that makes a Game of Life pattern!](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xP5-iIeKXE8) So when someone wants to explain the concept of emergence, they can just point to this one game with only 4 simple rules.
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