#emergence — Public Fediverse posts on home.social

J. A. Jones @[email protected] · 2026-05-26 · 19:39 UTC

New work:

The Architecture of Reality.

A structural model of reality as a self‑organizing pattern space, where identity, agency, and interpretation emerge from generative pattern dynamics and the world functions as the meta‑pattern.

PhilPapers: https://philpapers.org/rec/JONTAO-27

Zenodo: https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20398424

#theory #systemsTheory #complexSystems #emergence
#structuralOntology #patternDynamics #metaPatterns
#identity #agency #cognitiveArchitecture #philosophyOfMind

#theory #systemstheory #complexsystems #emergence #structuralontology #patterndynamics

(Roughly) Daily @[email protected] · 2026-05-25 · 08:00 UTC

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away”*…

Particles are nature’s smallest constituents, but that doesn’t mean they’re fundamental. So of what, physicist Felix Flicker asks, does the Universe consist?…

What is the world made of? For centuries, people have believed that matter is constructed from tiny, indivisible parts. Some of the earliest known references come from the Greek philosopher Democritus, who taught that the Universe was composed of atoms the size of dust motes floating in sunlight. Theravada Buddhism developed the concept of kalapas, indivisible bundles of properties fleeting into and out of existence. Alchemy’s description of fundamental ‘corpuscles’, expounded by Isaac Newton and others, derived from translations of Aristotle by mediaeval Islamic scholars. And Hideki Yukawa, winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work developing the modern theory of elementary particles, took inspiration from a passage in the Zhuangzi, a Daoist text written during China’s warring states period, in which fast-moving entities puncture holes within formless chaos. Yukawa saw a parallel to particle collisions.
The concept of a particle, as we now refer to these indivisible parts, has therefore been repeatedly re-introduced in contradictory ways. The modern view continues this tradition. In late-19th-century physics, particles were tiny indivisible objects with well-defined positions and momenta. The advent of quantum mechanics led these clear waters to become muddied. But the basic idea persists: we are taught from a young age that matter is made of atoms, built from particles such as electrons, and electrons are not built from anything else. For this reason, these particles are sometimes said to be fundamental. But are they? Is the Universe really made from the smallest constituents, as a beach is made from sand?
The answer to this question, I will contest, is perhaps a surprising one: yes, the Universe is built from fundamental units – but fundamental need not mean smallest. This view is generally adopted by those physicists, such as myself, who work in the largest discipline within the subject: quantum matter. This is the study of quantum behaviours that manifest on everyday scales: the attraction of iron to a magnet, the flow of electricity along a wire, or the passage of sound through a crystal. In these settings, too, we find particles. But these particles are not elementary, like the electron: they are emergent.
The distinction can be pictured as follows. Imagine a lightbulb, its rays of light travelling to your eyes. We can ask what those rays are made of. Quantum mechanics has an answer: a ray of light is a stream of individual particles called photons. In turn, we can ask what the photons are made of. The answer this time is that they are not made of anything else: they are elementary. Now imagine that this lightbulb is of a vintage sort, and gives off a gentle hum. It emits waves of sound that travel to your ears. We can again ask what those waves are made of. And, once again, quantum mechanics has an answer: a wave of sound can be described by individual particles called phonons. Now, if you are familiar with the Standard Model of particle physics, you will know that it contains photons but not phonons. The reason is that phonons are not elementary. If you ask what a phonon is made of, there is an answer: it is a pattern of vibrations of the atoms in the air. In the study of quantum matter, however, we say it is an emergent particle.
So what are emergent particles? Are they as real as elementary particles? And, perhaps most importantly, can they tell us anything new about the nature of reality?…
[Flicker answers the first two of those questions, then turns to the third…]
… So, are elementary particles emergent? Even if we can ever answer this, we will be faced with the same question, whatever we find. In the end, whether you like the idea comes down to personal taste and, perhaps, a degree of cultural upbringing. The more widely publicised attempts at a ‘theory of everything’ always struck me as suspiciously similar to themes in the Old Testament: the Universe was once describable by a single mathematical formula, but that one, true quantum field spontaneously broke in a cataclysmic event that resulted in the messy collection of particles we find before us. I find that the quantum matter perspective, on the other hand, resonates with me in a similar manner to the Daoist texts such as the Zhuangzi. From this new perspective, it is our current world that is beautiful. It grew from a swamp of possible theories, each ugly in its arbitrariness: it doesn’t matter which way we followed, as they all lead here…

A physicist argues that our universe is more than the sum of its particles: “Reality Emerges,” from @aeon.co.

Resonant: “There Is No ‘Hard Problem Of Consciousness’,” from Carlo Rovelli

Also apposite (and fascinating): “Physicists just found a tiny flaw in time itself,” from ScienceDaily.

* Philip K. Dick

###

As we muse on materialization, we might send insightful birthday greetings to Jack Steinberger; he was born on this date in 1921. An experimental physicist, he worked on sub-atomic particles– the “elementary” constituents of matter discussed above– at Columbia, UC Berkeley, and CERN. He shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics (with Leon M. Lederman and Melvin Schwartz) for the discovery of the muon neutrino.

source

#CarloRovelli #culture #emergence #history #JackSteinberger #philosophy #Physics #reality #Science #subatomicParticles

#carlorovelli #culture #emergence #history #jacksteinberger #philosophy

(Roughly) Daily @[email protected] · 2026-05-25 · 08:00 UTC

“Reality is that which, when you stop believing in it, doesn’t go away”*…

Particles are nature’s smallest constituents, but that doesn’t mean they’re fundamental. So of what, physicist Felix Flicker asks, does the Universe consist?…

What is the world made of? For centuries, people have believed that matter is constructed from tiny, indivisible parts. Some of the earliest known references come from the Greek philosopher Democritus, who taught that the Universe was composed of atoms the size of dust motes floating in sunlight. Theravada Buddhism developed the concept of kalapas, indivisible bundles of properties fleeting into and out of existence. Alchemy’s description of fundamental ‘corpuscles’, expounded by Isaac Newton and others, derived from translations of Aristotle by mediaeval Islamic scholars. And Hideki Yukawa, winner of the 1949 Nobel Prize in Physics for his work developing the modern theory of elementary particles, took inspiration from a passage in the Zhuangzi, a Daoist text written during China’s warring states period, in which fast-moving entities puncture holes within formless chaos. Yukawa saw a parallel to particle collisions.
The concept of a particle, as we now refer to these indivisible parts, has therefore been repeatedly re-introduced in contradictory ways. The modern view continues this tradition. In late-19th-century physics, particles were tiny indivisible objects with well-defined positions and momenta. The advent of quantum mechanics led these clear waters to become muddied. But the basic idea persists: we are taught from a young age that matter is made of atoms, built from particles such as electrons, and electrons are not built from anything else. For this reason, these particles are sometimes said to be fundamental. But are they? Is the Universe really made from the smallest constituents, as a beach is made from sand?
The answer to this question, I will contest, is perhaps a surprising one: yes, the Universe is built from fundamental units – but fundamental need not mean smallest. This view is generally adopted by those physicists, such as myself, who work in the largest discipline within the subject: quantum matter. This is the study of quantum behaviours that manifest on everyday scales: the attraction of iron to a magnet, the flow of electricity along a wire, or the passage of sound through a crystal. In these settings, too, we find particles. But these particles are not elementary, like the electron: they are emergent.
The distinction can be pictured as follows. Imagine a lightbulb, its rays of light travelling to your eyes. We can ask what those rays are made of. Quantum mechanics has an answer: a ray of light is a stream of individual particles called photons. In turn, we can ask what the photons are made of. The answer this time is that they are not made of anything else: they are elementary. Now imagine that this lightbulb is of a vintage sort, and gives off a gentle hum. It emits waves of sound that travel to your ears. We can again ask what those waves are made of. And, once again, quantum mechanics has an answer: a wave of sound can be described by individual particles called phonons. Now, if you are familiar with the Standard Model of particle physics, you will know that it contains photons but not phonons. The reason is that phonons are not elementary. If you ask what a phonon is made of, there is an answer: it is a pattern of vibrations of the atoms in the air. In the study of quantum matter, however, we say it is an emergent particle.
So what are emergent particles? Are they as real as elementary particles? And, perhaps most importantly, can they tell us anything new about the nature of reality?…
[Flicker answers the first two of those questions, then turns to the third…]
… So, are elementary particles emergent? Even if we can ever answer this, we will be faced with the same question, whatever we find. In the end, whether you like the idea comes down to personal taste and, perhaps, a degree of cultural upbringing. The more widely publicised attempts at a ‘theory of everything’ always struck me as suspiciously similar to themes in the Old Testament: the Universe was once describable by a single mathematical formula, but that one, true quantum field spontaneously broke in a cataclysmic event that resulted in the messy collection of particles we find before us. I find that the quantum matter perspective, on the other hand, resonates with me in a similar manner to the Daoist texts such as the Zhuangzi. From this new perspective, it is our current world that is beautiful. It grew from a swamp of possible theories, each ugly in its arbitrariness: it doesn’t matter which way we followed, as they all lead here…

A physicist argues that our universe is more than the sum of its particles: “Reality Emerges,” from @aeon.co.

Resonant: “There Is No ‘Hard Problem Of Consciousness’,” from Carlo Rovelli

Also apposite (and fascinating): “Physicists just found a tiny flaw in time itself,” from ScienceDaily.

* Philip K. Dick

###

As we muse on materialization, we might send insightful birthday greetings to Jack Steinberger; he was born on this date in 1921. An experimental physicist, he worked on sub-atomic particles– the “elementary” constituents of matter discussed above– at Columbia, UC Berkeley, and CERN. He shared the 1988 Nobel Prize in Physics (with Leon M. Lederman and Melvin Schwartz) for the discovery of the muon neutrino.

source

#CarloRovelli #culture #emergence #history #JackSteinberger #philosophy #Physics #reality #Science #subatomicParticles

#carlorovelli #culture #emergence #history #jacksteinberger #philosophy

🫧 socialcoding.. @[email protected] · 2026-05-22 · 08:53 UTC

@uriel @janriemer

Your observation is spot on. Yes, we all have our individual dreams that we pursue. Our problem is that they are less likely to be realized, as the world about us turns to shite due to the vile Hypercapitalism that festers and rules supreme.

What I am talking about relating to #SX has much to do about #Emergence. How can we realize our individual dreams in emergent cocreation spaces that help us do the realization?

That's NOT about #Governance. Not directly at least. Governance is top-down overlay structure to manage power dynamics at small scales, in the large scale its entirely emergent too. At least it is in our chaotic grassroots #commons.

SX takes all that into account, and is based on intrinsic values of #Humanity and #Freedom as the starting point for solution development. SX solutions can be small, but might be society-scale just as well, designed for having profound societal impact.

But that requires the ability to foster emergence at scale first of all.

#sx #emergence #governance #commons #humanity #freedom

🫧 socialcoding.. @[email protected] · 2026-05-22 · 08:53 UTC

@uriel @janriemer

Your observation is spot on. Yes, we all have our individual dreams that we pursue. Our problem is that they are less likely to be realized, as the world about us turns to shite due to the vile Hypercapitalism that festers and rules supreme.

What I am talking about relating to #SX has much to do about #Emergence. How can we realize our individual dreams in emergent cocreation spaces that help us do the realization?

That's NOT about #Governance. Not directly at least. Governance is top-down overlay structure to manage power dynamics at small scales, in the large scale its entirely emergent too. At least it is in our chaotic grassroots #commons.

SX takes all that into account, and is based on intrinsic values of #Humanity and #Freedom as the starting point for solution development. SX solutions can be small, but might be society-scale just as well, designed for having profound societal impact.

But that requires the ability to foster emergence at scale first of all.

#sx #emergence #governance #commons #humanity #freedom

🫧 socialcoding.. @[email protected] · 2026-05-22 · 08:53 UTC

@uriel @janriemer

Your observation is spot on. Yes, we all have our individual dreams that we pursue. Our problem is that they are less likely to be realized, as the world about us turns to shite due to the vile Hypercapitalism that festers and rules supreme.

What I am talking about relating to #SX has much to do about #Emergence. How can we realize our individual dreams in emergent cocreation spaces that help us do the realization?

That's NOT about #Governance. Not directly at least. Governance is top-down overlay structure to manage power dynamics at small scales, in the large scale its entirely emergent too. At least it is in our chaotic grassroots #commons.

SX takes all that into account, and is based on intrinsic values of #Humanity and #Freedom as the starting point for solution development. SX solutions can be small, but might be society-scale just as well, designed for having profound societal impact.

But that requires the ability to foster emergence at scale first of all.

#sx #emergence #governance #commons #humanity #freedom

🫧 socialcoding.. @[email protected] · 2026-05-22 · 08:53 UTC

@uriel @janriemer

Your observation is spot on. Yes, we all have our individual dreams that we pursue. Our problem is that they are less likely to be realized, as the world about us turns to shite due to the vile Hypercapitalism that festers and rules supreme.

What I am talking about relating to #SX has much to do about #Emergence. How can we realize our individual dreams in emergent cocreation spaces that help us do the realization?

That's NOT about #Governance. Not directly at least. Governance is top-down overlay structure to manage power dynamics at small scales, in the large scale its entirely emergent too. At least it is in our chaotic grassroots #commons.

SX takes all that into account, and is based on intrinsic values of #Humanity and #Freedom as the starting point for solution development. SX solutions can be small, but might be society-scale just as well, designed for having profound societal impact.

But that requires the ability to foster emergence at scale first of all.

#freedom #humanity #commons #governance #emergence #sx

🫧 socialcoding.. @[email protected] · 2026-05-22 · 08:53 UTC

@uriel @janriemer

Your observation is spot on. Yes, we all have our individual dreams that we pursue. Our problem is that they are less likely to be realized, as the world about us turns to shite due to the vile Hypercapitalism that festers and rules supreme.

What I am talking about relating to #SX has much to do about #Emergence. How can we realize our individual dreams in emergent cocreation spaces that help us do the realization?

That's NOT about #Governance. Not directly at least. Governance is top-down overlay structure to manage power dynamics at small scales, in the large scale its entirely emergent too. At least it is in our chaotic grassroots #commons.

SX takes all that into account, and is based on intrinsic values of #Humanity and #Freedom as the starting point for solution development. SX solutions can be small, but might be society-scale just as well, designed for having profound societal impact.

But that requires the ability to foster emergence at scale first of all.

#sx #emergence #governance #commons #humanity #freedom

J. A. Jones @[email protected] · 2026-05-19 · 07:12 UTC

New work:

The Structural Conditions for the Existence of a Universe.

A scale‑invariant meta‑architecture showing how identity, agency, and coherence emerge from negative possibility and operator‑exclusion — up to cosmological scale.

https://philpapers.org/rec/JONTSC-3
https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.20280081

#systemsTheory #metaArchitecture #emergence #identity #agency #structuralOntology #cosmos #philosophyOfAI

#systemstheory #metaarchitecture #emergence #identity #agency #structuralontology

The Skeptic's Kaddish 🇮🇱 @[email protected] · 2026-05-18 · 07:38 UTC

Ordinariness stranger, or: That’s my bag

A Sijo

among laughing neighbors
he can't sip through the paper bag;
perspiration slides down the cup
with nowhere else to go;
every humorous idea
makes ordinariness stranger

What Do You See 341

For WDYS, Sadje offers us a photo by krzhck (Unsplash) of a person sitting outside at what looks like a normal backyard get-together, holding an iced coffee while wearing a brown paper bag over their whole head. In the background, a few other people stand in the sunny yard near outdoor furniture, making the strange hiding place feel both funny and a little sad.

As always, Sadje is eagerly awaiting our responses!

Sijo?

A Korean verse form related to haiku and tanka and comprised of three lines of 14-16 syllables each, for a total of 44-46 syllables. Each line contains a pause near the middle, similar to a caesura, though the break need not be metrical. The first half of the line contains six to nine syllables; the second half should contain no fewer than five. Originally intended as songs, sijo can treat romantic, metaphysical, or spiritual themes. Whatever the subject, the first line introduces an idea or story, the second supplies a “turn,” and the third provides closure. Modern sijo are sometimes printed in six lines.

Let’s write poetry together!

When it comes to partnership, some humans can make their lives alone – it’s possible. But creatively, it’s more like painting: you can’t just use the same colours in every painting. It’s just not an option. You can’t take the same photograph every time and live with art forms with no differences.
–Ben Harper (b. 1969)

Would you like to create poetry with me and have a completed poem of yours featured here at the Skeptic’s Kaddish? I am very excited to have launched the ‘Poetry Partners’ initiative and am looking forward to meeting and creating with you… Check it out!

#Awakening #Awareness #Becoming #Belonging #Consciousness #Emergence #Flowers #Inheritance #Poem #Poetry #Sijo

#sijo #poetry #poem #inheritance #flowers #emergence