Emergence in Science

TL;DR

This paper explores the concept of emergence across various scientific disciplines, highlighting phenomena in condensed matter physics, social sciences, economics, computing, and biology, emphasizing its role in complex systems.

Contribution

It provides a comprehensive review of emergent phenomena in multiple fields, linking physical, social, and biological systems through the lens of emergence.

Findings

Emergent phenomena are observed in phase transitions and symmetry breaking in condensed matter.

Emergence is also prevalent in social, economic, and biological systems, indicating its universal relevance.

The paper offers a cross-disciplinary perspective on the nature and significance of emergence.

Abstract

In the scientific literature, the term emergent phenomena is invoked in the context of a collective behavior observed in a complex adaptive system that exhibits no correspondence with the behavior of the system constituents. Although this description is too generic to be termed a definition, it alludes to the fact that emergent phenomena are closely related to esoteric observations and neoteric developments in science. With these impressions, we aim to investigate a variety of observed behavior from the perspective of an emergentist. Starting with a few familiar portrayals of emergence, we devote a large body of this narrative review to explain instances of emergence in condensed matter systems, namely the phase transition phenomena, spontaneous symmetry breaking, and macroscopic quantum phenomena. At the same time, to present a broader perspective, we cross the domain boundaries to also provide a succinct description of emergent phenomena prevailing in social sciences, economics, computing environments, and in biological systems, as well.