Emergence

Gravity and surface tension are also emergent properties. When there is only one atom in a space, gravity is nonexistent. When there is only one molecule of water, surface tension is nonexistent. Like the first example with human beings, these complex phenomenons overlap and create an even more sophisticated system. This emergence is utilized best by creatures with hive minds, such as ants, bees or us. A cat can survive by itself. It can hunt for food, find a water source, protect territory and so much more. But, what can a single, ant, bee or a human do? In the case of an ant, there are specific tasks that an ant is given that is necessary for the colony to survive. Old ants become defenders of the colony and take care of the queen ant. If this ant were to be isolated from the colony, it would die within a week because it does not know how to obtain food and survive alone. It is comparable to pulling out a few cells from a human body. Humans alone are quite useless too. On the trophic level (apex predator level) humans are similar to pigs. But, through their numbers and cooperation, they can exhibit strength and complexity like the very first example.

Scientists have noticed this phenomenon of emergence for quite a while, but have not found a reasonable explanation of its existence. Looking at one water molecule, a scientist would never know the slipperiness of ice. From one ant, never the complex communities or colonies that they create. If we can understand this mechanism of emergence, we may be able to identify the hierarchy problem in physics (the large discrepancy of forces of the weak force and gravity) or the several systems that work in different scales in nature. Although many things may seem to be unrelated, every event in the world is connected to all other events, and without this strange power, life would have never “emerged” out of dead chemistry.