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Early architecture/structural engineering (figuring out arches, up to building cathedrals) was done by "just trying different structures to see what worked". Ca
by dundarious 3y ago
Early architecture/structural engineering (figuring out arches, up to building cathedrals) was done by "just trying different structures to see what worked". Calling this "emergent" is not what is typically meant by the word -- we don't consider cathedrals to be "emergent structures". It's fair to say that many people imprecisely use the term, but then you are contributing to its drift into becoming (or perhaps always having been) a floating signifier.
- wolframhempel 3y agoBut Cathedrals still had central planning, blueprints, ropes stuck in the ground to outline what should be built. Thermites on the other hand use a process called "Stigmergy" in which work allocation and building structures emerge organically without central coordination.
- dundarious 3y agoThey justified their point by saying the research was "emergent". My point is that almost all pre-modern research was "emergent" by their usage, and a large amount of contemporaneous research is "emergent" as well. That would be slightly annoying, but they did this to then justify points about how the resulting model is "emergent". The research process, and the resulting output, can and (my main point) almost always do, differ as to whether they are truly emergent.