My problem with emergence is that it makes you think in one conceptual direction, and not the other. To explain, emergence as stated in the parent is a name fo

My problem with emergence is that it makes you think in one conceptual direction, and not the other. To explain, emergence as stated in the parent is a name for how a bunch of molecules could interact to make something you might call a football. This is a phenomenon at the "higher" everyday physical level emerging from the phenomena of the "lower" chemical level. What I think this story misses is the importance of the "even higher" phenomena which resulted in a football being created, those of the human cultural level which caused the football to be manufactured and, for example, placed on some grass, or a desk, to be studied. This isn't a purely sociological or philosophical point either, when you're looking at brain macro-activity for example, it's only partially explicable by referencing the micro-activity of, say, individual neurons, to get a better understanding you need to refer to activity outside of the brain that caused certain individual neurons to be acting like that. These higher level phenomena can be simple things like the movement in the neck that caused a change in stimulation, and also more wooly concepts like cultures which provide certain aesthetics or behaviours. Emergence is important, but I feel its too often considered as a standalone phenomenon, rather than as one side of an irreducible causal cycle.