[Muller, Nielsen, Emergent Properties]
p.92 Ecosystems are highly complex... systems dominated by nonlinear relationships between their constituents.
In such systems, things are bound to happen that are not easy to predict from the basic knowledge of the system, no matter
how extensive this knowledge is.
p.92 Emergence relative to a model defines emergence as the deviation of the actual behavior of a physical
system in comparison with an observer's model of it.
Summarizing these historical notions of emergence, the following features can be stated:
- Emergent properties are properties of a system which are not possessed by component subsystems alone.
- The properties emerge as a consequence of the interactions within the system.
- Two fundamental types of interactions are found that may be characterized as intra- and inter-connectedness,
that is, connections within and between levels, including controls. This point does not consider the direction of the intra-level
interactions. Emergence is based on both, upward and downward causation.
- The historically emerged properties are considered 'new' with reference to their primary appearance.
- These new properties appear at one level of a system and are not immediately deducible from observation of
the levels or units of which the system consists.
[Casti, Fath, Ecological Complexity]
p.107 Complex processes, on the other hand, generate counterintuitive, seemingly acausal behavior that is
full of surprises
p.108 Typically, a simple system involves weak interactions among its various components. So if we sever some
of these connections, the system behaves more or less as before.
p.109 Complex systems produce surprising behavior, in fact, they produce behavioral patterns and properties
that just cannot be predicted from knowledge of their parts taken in isolation. The 'emergent properties' are probably the
single most distinguishing feature of complex systems.
p.110 Ecosystems are composed of a large number of highly diverse components interacting with self-stabilizing
and self-promoting feedback to produce emergent patterns.
[Hartmut Bossel, Goal Functions and Orientors]
p.120 To an observer, the system's behavior appears to be guided by a particular attractor state, or by
attention to a number of orientors.
p.120 When we talk about a viable system, we mean that this system is able to survive, be healthy, and develop
in its particular environment. In other words, system viability has something to do with both the system and its properties,
and with the environment and its properties. And since a system usually adapts to its environment in a process of coevolution,
we can expect that the properties of the system's environment will be reflected in the properties of the system... Systems
are termed complex if they have an internal structure of many - qualitatively different - processes, subsystems, interconnections,
and interactions.
p.121 The adaptation of a system to its environment is reflected in its structure...
This system structure determines its behavior, and hence the adaptive response to its particular environment.
p.121 ecosystem... development becomes manifest in the corresponding emergent properties: ... These properties
can be viewed as orientors, propensities, or attractors guiding system development. They are not limited to ecosystems, they
are a general feature of living systems, including human organizations. When quantified and used in models, we refer to them
as goal functions.
p.121 Available opportunities will eventually be found out by the processes of evolution, and will then
be utilized. The ability to respond successfully to environmental challenges can be 'interpreted' as intelligent behavior,
although it is strictly the result of nonteleological evolutionary development.
p.122 Orientation theory deals in a more general way with the emergence of behavioral objectives (orientors)
in self-organizing systems in general environments. The proposition is that if a system is to survive in a given environment...
it must be able to physically exist in (be compatible with) this environment, effectively harvest necessary resources, freely
respond to environmental variety, protect itself from unpredictable threats, adapt to changes in the environment, and interact
productively with other systems. These essential orientations emerge in the course of the system's evolution in its environment.
p.122 The term orientor is used to denote (explicit or implicit) normative concepts that direct behavior
and development of systems in general... Ecosystems and organisms tend toward certain attractor states whose specific characteristics
can be viewed as orientors... The most fundamental orientors, the basic orientors, are identical for all complex adaptive
systems. Orientors are dimensions of concern; they are not specific goals. Their satisfaction can be determined by observation
of corresponding indicators, which can also be used to define goal functions for model studies.
p.122 If evolution enforces fitness of (natural) systems, then persistent systems must reflect the properties
of their environment in their structure. More generally, the basic properties of the environment require corresponding basic
system features. Since the basic environmental properties are independent of each other, a similar set of independent system
features must exist, and it must find expression in the concrete features of the system structure.
There is a one-to-one relationship between the properties of the environment and the 'basic orientors
of systems' (Figure 2):
1. Existence... 2. Effectiveness... 3. Freedom of action.. 4. Security...
5. Adaptability... 6. Coexistence... Obviously, the system equipped to secure better overall orientor satisfaction
will have better fitness, and will therefore have a better chance for long-term survival and sustainability. In persistent
systems or species, these orientors will be found as emergent objectives (or system interests).
p.122 Each of the orientors stands for a unique requirement. Attention (conscious or unconscious) must therefore
be paid to each of them, and the compensation of deficits of one orientor by over-fulfillment of other orientors is
not possible. Fitness forces a multicriteria response, and comprehensive (conscious or unconscious) assessment of system behavior
and development must also be multicriteria assessments.
p.124 The selection for better fitness in evolutionary processes favors systems (organisms) with better
coping ability. Aspects of the behavioral spectrum of a system that improve coping ability (basic orientors) can be understood
as implicit goals or attractors... These attractors do not determine the exact future states of the system at all; they only
pose constraints on choices (or evolutionary selection). The process and its rules are known, the product is unknown. The
spectrum of (qualitatively different) possible future development paths and sustainable states remains enormous. The shape
of the future, and of the systems that shape it, cannot be predicted this way. All one can say with certainty, however, is
that (1) all possible futures must be continuous developments from the past, and (2) paths with better orientor satisfaction
are more likely to succeed in the long run (if options to change paths have not been foreclosed).
p.124 The emergence of basic orientors in response to the general properties of environments can be deduced
from general systems theory, but supporting empirical evidence and related theoretical concepts can also be found in such
fields as psychology, sociology, and the study of artificial life.
p.124 Environmental influences partially determine system behavior. The magnitude of their effect on behavior
depends on the influence structure of the system.
Sometimes systems can be controlled by controlling the inputs from their environment. However, the
feedbacks in the system itself are usually more important for system control and adaptation of behavior to environmental conditions.
Feedback means that the system state influences itself.
p.126 Orientation theory is not just a conceptual framework for understanding system evolution and behavior
under the exergy availability constraint. It also allows quantitative and comparative analysis of system performance under
different environmental conditions.
p.126 Genetic algorithms... have been used to simulate learning and adaptation of artificial animals (animats)
in simulated environments... They can be used to demonstrate the emergence of basic orientors in self-organizing systems having
to cope with complex environments... The animat... has to learn to associate certain signals from the environment with reward
or pain and to either seek or avoid their respective sources... This learning phase... will eventually lead to the establishment
of cognitive structure and behavior rules which are approximately optimal in the particular environment... These behavior
rules incorporate knowledge which enables intelligent behavior.
The animat is designed to simulate this process. It can pick up sensory signals from its environment...
and classify them with available rules to determine an appropriate action (direction of movement... Eventually, a set of behavioral
rules develops which allows optimal behavior under the given set of conditions.
p.127 Animat individuals not only develop behavior that can be interpreted as intelligent, they also develop
a complex goal function (balanced attention to basic orientors), or value orientation. Serious attention to basic values...
is therefore an objective requirement emerging in, and characterizing self-organizing systems. These basic values are not
subjective human inventions, they are objective consequences of the process of self-organization in response to normal environmental
properties.
