Emergence in Agent-Based Computational Social Science

Abstract

This chapter provides a critical survey of emergence definitions both from a conceptual and formal standpoint. The notions of downward/backward causation and weak/strong emergence are specially discussed for application to complex social system with cognitive agents. Particular attention is devoted to the formal definitions introduced by Müller (2004) and Bonabeau and Dessalles (1997), which are operative in multi-agent frameworks and make sense from both cognitive and social point of view. A diagrammatic 4-Quadrant approach allows us to understand complex phenomena along both interior/exterior and individual/collective dimensions.

Extending the Information-Processing View of Coordination in Public Sector Crisis Response

“…However, our definition of emergence must be nuanced so as not to be confused with mutual adjustment which also has to do with individuals using feedback to coordinate by playing off each other locally. Indeed, emergence is about agents interacting autonomously, but this interaction is not sufficient in itself to explain the behavior of the whole system: it is actually carried out within a specific structure of interaction, which is neither at the level of the system as a whole, nor at the level of the entities, but constitutive of both (Dessalles et al, 2008). In other words, emergence implies both upwards and downwards causation, which is why coordination of an emergent kind is neither a result of purely bottom-up mutual adjustment, nor top-down standards and mediation.…”