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From: BKort@bbn.com (Barry Kort)
Newsgroups: comp.ai
Subject: Re: Emergent properties (was: What AI is exactly)
Message-ID: <59692@bbn.BBN.COM>
Date: 28 Sep 90 15:48:44 GMT
Sender: news@bbn.com
Organization: BBN Labs
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References:<59556@bbn.BBN.COM> <3894@se-sd.SanDiego.NCR.COM> <26FA3460.1C7D@marob.masa.com> <3918@se-sd.SanDiego.NCR.COM> <15132@venera.isi.edu> <84118@tut.cis.ohio-state.edu> <1990Sep27.185805.21493@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu>

In article <1990Sep27.185805.21493@ncsuvx.ncsu.edu> fostel@eos.ncsu.edu 
(Gary Fostel) writes:

>   If I assemble a device from wheels, pedals, metal tubes and such,
>   and it happens to become the most efficient transportation device
>   around, is that an emergent property of the parts?

A good example of an emergent property in automotive engineering is the 
Cruise Control System.  Like the centrifugal speed governor found on steam 
engines, this feedback control device regulates the behavior of the 
machine under unpredictable variations in load.  In feedback loops, there 
is something ethereal flowing around the loop: Information.  This 
information is not found in the piece parts themselves, but arises out of 
the pattern of interactions among the parts.


Barry Kort
Visiting Scientist
BBN Labs
Cambridge, MA