“If you wish to make an apple pie from scratch, you must first invent the universe.”
Yes, this is the first line of the chapter.
But I thought it was important to begin my entry as well with this—because it took me an embarrassingly long time to actually get it. I’d skimmed over it mindlessly every time I’d opened this reading, not giving it much thought, but on the nth time, it hit me like a truck— I sat there staring at it for another 10 minutes, dumbstruck. Words like “interconnections”, “system” and “interdependence” were being thrown around inside my head, however I was yet to understand what emergence had to do with this.
From my understanding, emergence refers to the behaviour that arises from the interactions between different elements within a system, usually orderly, uniform. I may be wrong, but our final phase 1 project for Studio, the Mind drawing, could be an example of emergence. Following a simple set of rules and commands with no preconceived end product in mind, a distinct, unexpected pattern had emerged. This, however, is only an example of ‘weak’ emergence—predictable after a certain stage.
When a complex, unpredictable pattern or form occurs from within, strong emergence occurs. This type of emergence could even redefine a system, altering its purposes or outcomes. A cheeky example could be a projection of myself, four years into the future—after my design journey at DIDI, with an enlightened view of the world and fresh ideas to fuel my aspirations—a result of the experiences and lessons I’d have learnt from!
Bibliography:
Extract-
Holman, P (2020) What is Emergence?. [Online] pp.1-12, Available at: https://peggyholman.com/papers/engaging-emergence/engaging-emergence-table-of-contents/part-i-the-nature-of-emergence/chapter-1-what-is-emergence/.
Image-
Dribbble, Claudia Scotto [Image] Available at: https://dribbble.com/shots/4278382-Color-Weaving. Accessed on: 26 October 2020
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