Emergent Processes, But Not Too Emergent: The sense and utility of scale integrative processes
Emergent processes are said to be decoupled, in some functional sense, from their microlevel constituents. In systems of interacting parts, such as statistical mechanics, emergence is central. Characterisations of emergence are generally binary: a process is either emergent or not. Motivated by new definitions and surprising results, I argue emergence comes in degrees: emergent ‘higher’ scales remain bound to their microlevel constituents. This flavour of scale integration can be defined informationally, via a measure of dynamical dependence, or dynamically, via mean-field operations. I will introduce this concept, present an information-theoretic definition with preliminary extensions, and illustrate a working mean-field formalism showing that complete scale separation is not physically feasible for biophysical systems such as the brain. I will close with future questions on rethinking emergence, and its relevance to neural computation and function in living and nonliving systems.
This IFISC Seminar will be broadcasted in the following zoom link: https://us06web.zoom.us/j/89466064429?pwd=po9p99eAEYVPaNI8xIIGoOIz0hOqaF.1
Coffee and cookies will be served 15 minutes before the start of the seminar
Contact details:
Ruben Herzog Contact form