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Relationships Between the Processes of Emergence and Abstraction in Societies

Relationships Between the Processes of Emergence and Abstraction in Societies

Eric Baumer, Bill Tomlinson
Copyright: © 2009 |Pages: 17
ISBN13: 9781605662367|ISBN10: 1605662364|EISBN13: 9781605662374
DOI: 10.4018/978-1-60566-236-7.ch020
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MLA

Baumer, Eric, and Bill Tomlinson. "Relationships Between the Processes of Emergence and Abstraction in Societies." Handbook of Research on Agent-Based Societies: Social and Cultural Interactions, edited by Goran Trajkovski and Samuel G. Collins, IGI Global, 2009, pp. 288-304. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60566-236-7.ch020

APA

Baumer, E. & Tomlinson, B. (2009). Relationships Between the Processes of Emergence and Abstraction in Societies. In G. Trajkovski & S. Collins (Eds.), Handbook of Research on Agent-Based Societies: Social and Cultural Interactions (pp. 288-304). IGI Global. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60566-236-7.ch020

Chicago

Baumer, Eric, and Bill Tomlinson. "Relationships Between the Processes of Emergence and Abstraction in Societies." In Handbook of Research on Agent-Based Societies: Social and Cultural Interactions, edited by Goran Trajkovski and Samuel G. Collins, 288-304. Hershey, PA: IGI Global, 2009. https://doi.org/10.4018/978-1-60566-236-7.ch020

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Abstract

This chapter presents an argument that the process of emergence is the converse of the process of abstraction. Emergence involves complex behavior resulting from simple rules, while abstraction forming simple rules that describe complex behavior. This converse relationship suggests the possibility that similar mechanisms underlie both processes, and a greater understanding of one can lead to a greater understanding of the other. Especially in the case of human and artificial social systems, the processes of abstraction and emergence are inextricably interconnected; the abstractions that individuals make will determine what behaviors emerge, and the behaviors that emerge in the society determine what abstractions will be made. This relationship between the two processes, which we call the abstraction-emergence loop, can be used to gain a better understanding of both. It is argued that the abstraction-emergence loop functions over various degrees of complexity and levels of detail, and that the loop has the greatest efficacy in certain ranges of detail. This way of understanding the two processes has particular bearing on social interactions; in order to understand macro-level emergent social phenomena, we must also simultaneously understand the micro-level phenomena from which they arise. In considering when emergence occurs, the role of the observer in the emergence abstraction loop is also discussed. In addition to describing various properties of the abstraction-emergence loop, this chapter presents descriptions of several ongoing and future research projects in the creation of autonomous agent societies, and offers pointers to future research directions aimed at exploring and understanding the nature of the abstraction-emergence loop. Such an understanding of the relationship between abstraction and emergence can be helpful in designing communities of autonomous agents that interact socially with each other and with humans, and may also be a helpful step toward understanding the phenomena of emergence and abstraction in general.

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