An entity that exists only in the combined participation of it's individual participants?

 

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no i think the definition says that the individual parts are simple and follow only a few rules.

Consciousness is an emergent phenomena and the brain is anything but simple or easy to follow.

 

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the rules are generated at the level of the individual neurons and all their interactions amount to what consciousness is.

i have a hard time seeing how the interactions between all individuals in society amount to government.

there is a grassy open space that connects a bunch of buildings and through it there are numerous dirt paths. these paths were created when individuals chose their own paths and over time the most commonly used ones became just dirt from all that stamping. the network of dirt paths is emergent.


if a planner with a map draws some lines that become paths i don't see that network of paths as emergent, even if the planner was popularly elected.

They're called Desire Paths, and I'm not talking about the process of government. I'm talking about the Government its self. An entity with a measurable influence on the world but made up of nothing in particular.

 

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