22 July 2008

random thoughts on emergence

[front of book notes from Johnson, Emergence--sorry I can't duplicate the pattern of connections in the original]

Thinking in terms of emergence for culture studies requires one to severely de-emphasize the ability of a dominant something to control anything--and of the masses to be controlled--this is implicit in the metaphor of complexity.

(Culture studies has traditionally been metaphor-driven (as are other disciplines). Marxism is, for instance, based upon a metaphor.)

Emergence=cultural trends, and market forces=protocol. This approach just means making protocol a secondary force--local interactions are primary.

It could just be a matter of temporal scale--think body as hive, DNA as protocol, behavior (particularly cultural) as emergence.

Success and failure cannot be ascribed completely to standard notions of power and relationships to it.

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