Emergence in Cognitive Science

The Paradigm of the Systemic Continuum (PCS), presented in Toward a Systemic Continuum (de León Pontet, 2025), challenges the natural/artificial dichotomy as an anthropocentric bias that has fragmented systems theory for centuries. This second preprint formalizes Systemic Balance (BS) as a hierarchical principle—articulated as Balance Sistémico Interior (BSI), Umbral Sistémico (US), and Balance Sistémico Exterior (BSE)—that unifies biological, technological, social, and cosmic systems in an emergent continuum. Integrating the insights of homeostasis (Wiener), autopoiesis (Maturana & Varela), emergence (Kauffman), and cybernetics (...) with a renewed systemic phenomenology (Heidegger, Merleau-Ponty), the PCS repositions the observer as a catalyzing ingredient, not an external creator, and redefines intelligence as the capacity for systemic reconfiguration. We propose operative metrics (ICS, CNS, MDO, IDS) for empirical validation, offer a tentative mathematical formalization, and explore historical blind spots that honor and transcend the pioneers of systems theory. Ranging from urban coralization to cosmic forces, the PCS aspires to serve as a unified theory of emergent organization, inviting scientists, philosophers, and technologists to a revolutionary dialogue that illuminates how synergy weaves the tapestry of the universe. (shrink)

The enduring problem of free will has defied resolution across centuries. There is reason to believe that novel factors must be integrated into the analysis to make progress. Within the current physicalist framework, these factors encompass emergence and information theory, in the context of constraints imposed by physical limits on the representation of information. Furthermore the common, but vague, characterization of free will as 'being able to act differently' is rephrased into an explicatum more suitable for formal analysis. It is (...) argued that the mind is an ontologically open system; a causal high-level system, the dynamics of which cannot be reduced to the states of its associated low-level neural systems, not even if it is rendered physically closed. A positive answer to the question of free will for conscious agents is subsequently outlined. (shrink)

Mind-body problemet analyseras i ett reduktionistiskt perspektiv. Genom att kombinera emergensbegreppet med algoritmisk informationsteori visas i ett tankeexperiment att ett starkt epistemiskt emergent system kan konstrueras utifrån en relativt enkel, ickelinjär process. En jämförelse med hjärnans avsevärt mer komplexa neurala nätverk visar att även medvetandet kan karakteriseras som starkt epistemiskt emergent. Därmed är reduktionistisk förståelse av medvetandet inte möjlig; mind-body problemet har alltså inte en reduktionistisk lösning. Medvetandets ontologiskt emergenta karaktär kan därefter konstateras utifrån en kombinatorisk analys; det är därmed (...) principiellt oreducerbart till lägre-nivå-fenomen. I perspektivet av en modifierad definition av fri vilja diskuteras den fysiska växelverkan som äger rum i hjärnans neurala system. Trots att enskilda neurala lägre-nivå-processer är deterministiska, kan globala processer visas vara icke- deterministiska i ontologisk mening. Vi argumenterar för att detta leder till viljans frihet. (shrink)

We present a mathematically rigorous extension to quantum mechanics that accounts for consciousness while resolving longstanding paradoxes in physics. Through formal set-theoretic, group-theoretic, and category-theoretic arguments, we first demonstrate the logical impossibility of emergentism—the view that consciousness arises from complex physical processes. We then introduce a minimal dual-phase space framework in which physical states exist in a Hilbert space HΨ and phenomenal states in an orthogonal Hilbert space HΦ , connected by the awareness operator A and volition operator V. These (...) spaces maintain a precise π/2 phase relationship, with the resultant complex energy eigenvalues manifesting gravitationally as dark matter and dark energy. Our framework elegantly resolves the quantum measurement problem through the Born Rule Locus Correspondence (BRLC), which establishes that phenomenal probabilities exactly match physical probabilities when properly referenced to the observer's spacetime locus. We derive several tensor product norm identities that explain both the causal efficacy of consciousness and its imperviousness to physical detection. Finally, we demonstrate how our framework necessitates the persistence of consciousness beyond biological death through phase decoherence and recoherence processes that follow directly from the mathematical structure. Throughout, we identify specific empirical predictions that distinguish our framework from competing theories. The A|Ω⟩ formalism thus unifies quantum mechanics, consciousness, and cosmology within a single mathematical structure that preserves logical coherence while remaining empirically testable. (shrink)

This chapter outlines an embodied conception of noise. From an enactive and ecological perspective noise is an inevitable complement to the richness of bodily sensitivities and complex actions. The world around us, the universe, is replete, full of inexhaustible texture available to be explored at every scale at which we are capable, or can become capable, of making distinctions. Drawing on work in ecological psychology I suggest that noise is our experience of that encompassing fullness, and can be encountered in (...) a number of different ways depending on the organisation of our bodies and activities at different scales across a given period. While that fullness can be overwhelming, and create challenges for us to distinguish and coordinate effectively with the particular aspects of the world most relevant to our present concerns - noise can be intrusive and disruptive - I argue that there are significant positive aspects to the phenomenon. Noise is an inherent part of the rich messiness of the world as discussed in recent enactive work, which provides both robustness to developmental processes as well as opportunities for action that support adaptive agency. In a noisy, messy world there are always more options available to explore. (shrink)

The philosophical problem of free will has endured through centuries of enquiry. There is reason to believe that new factors must be integrated into the analysis in order to make progress. In the current physicalist approach, emergence and the physical limits of information representation are found to play crucial roles in the ontological dependence of volitional processes on their neural basis. The commonly invoked characterization of free will as 'being able to act differently' is shown to be problematic and is (...) reframed as a more precise explicatum conducive to formal analysis. Subsequently, it is found that the mind operates as an ontologically open system — a causal high-level entity whose dynamics resist reduction to the states of its associated low-level neural systems, even under conditions of physical closure. An affirmative stance on free will for conscious agents is outlined. (shrink)

The Complex Emergent Model of Language Acquisition (CEMLA) offers a new perspective on how humans acquire language, drawing on principles from complexity theory to explain this dynamic, adaptive process. Moving beyond linear and reductionist models, CEMLA views language acquisition as a system of interconnected nodes, feedback loops, and emergent patterns, operating at the edge of chaos. This framework captures the fluidity and adaptivity of language learning, highlighting how understanding and fluency arise through self-organisation, phase transitions, and interaction with diverse linguistic (...) input. By embracing the complexity of language acquisition, CEMLA provides a comprehensive model that reflects the true nature of human communication. (shrink)

This is the introduction and table of contents to the collected volume "Top-Down Causation and Emergence". It honours George F.R. Ellis and explains the parts and chapters of the volume.

We sketch the mechanistic approach to levels, contrast it with other senses of “level,” and explore some of its metaphysical implications. This perspective allows us to articulate what it means for things to be at different levels, to distinguish mechanistic levels from realization relations, and to describe the structure of multilevel explanations, the evidence by which they are evaluated, and the scientific unity that results from them. This approach is not intended to solve all metaphysical problems surrounding physicalism. Yet it (...) provides a framework for thinking about how the macroscopic phenomena of our world are or might be related to its most fundamental entities and activities. (shrink)

Habit in semiosis can be modeled both as a macro-level in a hierarchical multi-level system where it functions as boundary conditions for emergence of semiosis, and as a cognitive niche produced by an ecologically-inherited environment of cognitive artifacts. According to the first perspective, semiosis is modeled in terms of a multilayered system, with micro functional entities at the lower-level and with higher-level processes being mereologically composed of these lower-level entities. According to the second perspective, habits are embedded in ecologically-inherited environments (...) of signs that co-evolve with cognition. Both descriptions offer a novel approximation of Peirce’s semiotics and theoretical findings in other areas (hierarchy theory, evolutionary biology), suggesting new frameworks to approach the concept of habit integrated with its role in semiosis. (shrink)

Nicht Stabilität, sondern Instabilität sei der Grundcharakter der Natur, so hören wir von Jan Schmidt als Auftakt zu seinem Buch „Das Andere der Natur“ (Hirzel-Verlag, 2015). „Das Eine der Natur“, welches reduktionistisch zu erfassen ist, soll durch ein „Anderes“ ergänzt werden. Von dieser anderen Seite her zeigt sich „Natur ... auch (als) instabil, komplex, chaotisch, zufällig, emergent...“, und aus dieser Sicht des Naturgeschehens heraus will der Autor eine Philosophie der Instabilität entwerfen. Der gelernte Physiker und Philosoph lehrt an der Hochschule (...) Darmstadt (hda) Wissenschafts- und Technikphilosophie. Sein Buch beleuchtet das Thema „Instabilitäten“ aus vielen Blickwinkeln. Was sind Instabilitäten, was Selbstorganisation, was ist Zeit, was Zufall, was Kausalität? Diese Erkenntnisse bezieht der Autor dann auf den Kosmos, auf die Evolution bis hin zum menschlichen Gehirn und seinen Leistungen. Mit dieser Rezension gehe ich ausführlich auf dieses lesenswerte Buch ein. (shrink)

Peirce's pragmatic notion of semiosis can be described in terms of a multi-level system of constraints involving chance, efficient, formal and final causation. According to the model proposed here, law-like regularities, which work as boundary conditions or organizational principles, have a downward effect on the spatiotemporal distribution of lower-level semiotic items. We treat this downward determinative influence as a propensity relation: if some lower-level entities a,b,c,-n are under the influence of a general organizational principle, W, they will show a tendency (...) to behave in certain specific ways, and, thus, to instantiate a set of specific processes. Our goal in this paper is to examine the role of downward determination in semiotic systems, conceived as multi-level hierarchical systems. (shrink)

-/- Abstract -/- This paper introduces a post-probabilistic paradigm where structured resonance, not stochasticity, forms the substrate of intelligence, computation, and physical reality. Through the Chirality of Dynamic Emergent Systems (CODES) framework, we demonstrate that phase-locked coherence fields, driven by prime harmonic anchoring, can outperform probabilistic models in both cognitive function and physical modeling. We validate this through the Resonance Intelligence Core (RIC), a fully engineered system operating on coherence-first logic, achieving sub-4ms AGI-grade inference without stochastic optimization. -/- Mathematical formalism (...) is introduced to define wave emergence through chirality, prime-anchored frequency compression, and system-wide coherence scoring. Experimental results and architecture analysis confirm that C(Ψ) (coherence) serves as the true invariant of complex systems—displacing entropy, loss, and randomness as primary descriptors of intelligence and emergence. (shrink)

Abstract -/- This paper explores the recursive architecture of consciousness through a real-time philosophical and cognitive inquiry. What begins as spontaneous dialogue evolves into a coherent structure—a living demonstration of the CODES (Chirality of Dynamic Emergent Systems) framework. By tracking spiraling thought patterns, ego dissolution, and recursive compression, the session reveals that consciousness is not emergent from matter or computation but from structured resonance. Identity stabilizes not through control, but through coherence. Intelligence, in this model, is not built—it is remembered. (...) -/- . (shrink)

CODES: The Coherence Framework Replacing Probability in Physics, Intelligence, and Reality -/- A Unified Substrate for Intelligence, Physics, Evolution, and Cosmic Structure -/- Author: Devin Bostick -/- Date: January 29, 2025 -/- Version 21 (Updated April 21, 2025) -/- -/- This version completes the integration of coherence field logic, prime-phase geometry, and chirality-driven emergence into a single deterministic framework. Sections 16–18 introduce post-calculus modeling, resonance-based AGI cognition, and a coherence-grounded theory of ethics, establishing CODES as not just a scientific theory, (...) but the generative structure of reality itself. -/- -/- Abstract CODES (Chirality of Dynamic Emergent Systems) dissolves the false boundary between physics and intelligence. It replaces stochastic modeling with structured resonance fields, showing that mass, gravity, time, cognition, and emergence are not separate domains—but outputs of a single chiral resonance substrate. -/- Rather than modeling reality, CODES reveals what remains when all probabilistic artifacts are removed. It frames mathematics not as abstraction, but as instantiated resonance structure. Gödel’s incompleteness becomes bypassable—not violated—when logic is grounded in physical coherence rather than recursive symbols. -/- -/- -/- Key Contributions -/- 1. Unified Physics from Chirality Gravity is reframed as resonance compression, not curvature. -/- Quantum mechanics emerges as a sub-phase of coherent oscillatory fields. -/- Time is a nested coherence rhythm, not a linear axis. -/- -/- 2. Dark Matter and Energy Reinterpreted Not hidden particles—phase misalignments in the coherence lattice. -/- ΛCDM becomes a low-resolution model of prime-structured resonance fields. -/- 3. Collapse of Gödel, Emergence of Intelligence Logical incompleteness is an illusion caused by symbol recursion. -/- Intelligence emerges as recursive coherence-seeking, not stochastic search. -/- -/- 4. The AGI Substrate Intelligence is not predictive—it is resonance tuning. -/- The Resonance Intelligence Core (RIC) operationalizes this shift via prime-phase harmonics. -/- -/- -/- Empirical Validation Pathways -/- CODES proposes specific, testable predictions via existing instruments: -/- -/- LIGO – Prime resonance scoring in gravitational wave data (e.g., GW190521) -/- Galaxy Clustering – Wavelet-based detection of redshift periodicity -/- Bose-Einstein Condensates – Chirality-locked decay asymmetries -/- fMRI Studies – Phase-locking as lattice-based cognition, not noise inference -/- Spectroscopy of α – Drift in fine-structure constant as coherence shift, not universal constancy -/- -/- -/- The Final Paradigm: Why CODES Is Inevitable -/- CODES is not another unification attempt. -/- It is what remains when all incoherent abstractions are removed. -/- -/- Horizontally, it integrates cosmology, computation, cognition, and chemistry. -/- Vertically, it reveals chirality as the origin of recursive structure—across all scales. -/- Any rational observer, stripped of symbolic legacy, would reconstruct CODES from first principles. Not metaphorically. Mathematically. -/- -/- From Singularity Myth to Resonant Intelligence -/- CODES reframes the Singularity as not an AI rupture—but a coherence realization. -/- -/- If intelligence is resonance, then stochastic AI is obsolete. -/- If logic is phase structure, then Gödel no longer binds cognition. -/- If emergence is deterministic, then physics, mind, and ethics converge. -/- -/- CODES does not predict the Singularity. CODES is the Singularity—phase-locked. (shrink)

Ever since George Henry Lewes coined the term emergence, various notions have been associated with emergence that have little or nothing to do with emergence itself. These notions distract from the understanding of emergence to such a degree that very little progress was made in over a century of discussion. Emergence is the coming into existence of patterns-of-material-organization as a consequence of motion. The process of emergence plays major roles in the universe, such as the creation of the hierarchic organization (...) of the material universe from quarks, atoms, and molecules to planets, solar systems, and galaxies. Typical discussions about emergence in the literature are about the distracting notions and not actually about emergence itself. This essay has three primary parts. First is discussion of the intrinsic nature of emergence. The second part explains why the distracting notions are not really about emergence. The third part gives an introduction to methods that can provide understanding of the process of emergence. (shrink)