Day 20: Emergence HUM 201 Fall 2005

Lessons of A Humement Movement & travel can take place “in” and “through” a cultural artifact, not only through 3-D space. Travel through and in despite of boundaries can both disrupt those boundaries and bring unforeseen things to light. Such travel produces effects by creating new “spaces” in De Certeau’s sense. If not by the agent, where from?

Itinerary for next two days Where does novelty come from after the loss of the subject? –The subject created the new through action Novelty not from us but our relationship to the world The subject re-emerges –not as just an agent –as a mobile processor (affective agent) experimenting with space and time in a complex world

From Body to Bodies The Body Defined by its limits (the sack of meat) Perception as a property of your senses Space as the distance between bodies Bodies Defined by what connects it Perception as a property one’s relationship to the world Space as the practicing of place

From active agent to affective agent Active agent Used the world as resource for creation Time a function of consciousness and/or movement Novelty as production Affective agent Feels and works with the world Time allows for the world to represent itself Novelty as emergence

Definition: emergence “The process of coming into being” “to bring to light” “a small number of rules or laws can generate systems of surprising complexity” (Holland, pg 3) –Not just random complexity but well ordered complexity –An emergent property can’t be reduced to the elements or rules that generated it The order is a real property (William James) –Emergent features should be recognizable and re- occurring. New spaces as practiced places

“Come out” (1966) Steve Reich (1936- ) –Process music –Tape loops and repetition Iteration of simple laws (repetition) Voices slowly drawn out of phase (difference) Pulse (emergence)

scales Recognizing scalar organization important for emergent properties. Emergent properties manifest themselves on new scales (often thought of as non-scalar) Emergent properties constrained but not determined by constitutive scales

Chuck Close James, 2004

Emma 2004

Constraints Constitutive –Happens through interactions, artist in her studio –Bottom-up –Happens during the moment Selective –Happen afterward based on properties –Top-down –Happens by reflecting on the past

Example Humanities-Thinking beyond the “measure” Measuring or counting designates types How do you understand the non-typical –The new is that which has not been counted That which is not yet counted (or is in the process of being counted) Concentrate on describing experience

The Conundrum of Innovation How do you recognize the new? –If emergent properties are “unexpected” or “novel” how do you prepare yourself to witness them and gauge their importance? The “problem of innovation” –How do you design something “new” (that has never been conceived of before)?