Ensure you complete the pre-session activities listed towards the bottom of this page.

Oulipo

Oulipo was a literary movement strongly influenced by mathematical—indeed, algorithmic—thinking. It was predicated on the idea that constraining rules could actually provide greater freedom in artistic expression. Get an initial grip on the movement and its modes of operation with the following two exercises:

Read this Wikipedia article on the Oulipo movement, particularly the Introduction and Constraints sections.
Read 'The OuLiPo' section (pp. 8–12) of the Introduction to Dr Oliver Bray's doctoral thesis, Exercises in Constraint: The Poetics of the OuLiPo in Performance, 2018.

Through the application of such simple rules, new intriguing structures can be constructed.

Self-Assembly

Molecular/nanoparticle self-assembly is a powerful bottom-up way of producing new chemical and material structures from simple precursors. The term self-assembly encompasses a range of different processes and can be used on a huge range of chemical and material systems. Get an initial understanding of the general process with the following two exercises:

The chemical structure of the precursor components dictates the nature of the non-covalent interactions between them, e.g. carboxyl groups will interact with each other via strong hydrogen bonds, whilst (poly)aromatic systems will interact with each other via π-π stacking. The subsequent larger structures produced by molecular/nanoparticle self-assembly are a function of these smaller-scale interactions. These can either be strongly or weakly directed.

These interactions in smaller precursor systems can give rise to predictable engineered structures (e.g. the use of anion-templated self-assembly in the synthesis of interlocked supramolecules, such as rotaxanes); in larger precursor systems (i.e. with multiple sites and types of non-covalent interaction), hierarchical structures that aren't precisely predictable can be formed (e.g. amphiphilic fullerenes self-assembling into supramolecular hydrogels).

As with Oulipo, simple understandable rules (in this case, different types of non-covalent interaction) can be implemented, leading to the construction of new intriguing structures.

Space Enclosures

In the 1960s, space engineers conducting tests of closed life-support systems in preparation for long-duration space missions discovered how little we know of the human production of contaminants. Despite a set of known inputs, unanticipated outputs emerged in the space cabin: human bodies proved more complicated than the diagrams that the engineers were using to anticipate their behavior. Does this mean that space flight simulations produced emergent systems?

1. Read the following two articles that describe early space experiments as you consider the answer:

BOC_Int Science and Techno_Z T1 I61_Feb 1966.pdf

Mattson-keeping-astronauts-alive-1966-june-intl-sci-and-tech.pdf

Emergence

Emergence is the name we give to what happens when a complex entity has properties/behaviours that differ from that of its constituent components. By complex entity we mean any general 'system' comprised of many constituent components that are able to interact with each other. Get to grips with the ideas of emergence and complex systems with the following two activities:

Read the Wikipedia article on emergence. Pay particular attention to the distinction between weak and strong emergence. You can get some more specific (physics-focused) examples of the difference between the two by reading this page from the John Templeton Foundation.
Read the Wikipedia article on complex systems.

Molecular self-assembly, as outlined above, is an example of self-organisation, which is itself an emergent phenomenon. You will find other examples by reading the Wikipedia page on self-organisation.

For an easily digestible approach to some broader examples, watch the following video:

Emergence as understood today itself emerged from work and discussions taking place in science and the broader scholarly enterprise in the latter half of the 20th century. However, the idea has a much longer history and hints of it are already evident way back in Lucretius' concept of clinamen (itself a source of inspiration for Oulipo) and, even earlier, in Aristotle's attributed comment on the whole being more than the sum of its parts. For some extended reading:

For a concise and accessible introduction to the general idea, read P. W. Anderson's seminal paper More is Different.
For a more in-depth philosophical treatment addressing emergent complexity, read Funtowicz and Ravetz on Emergent Complex Systems, particularly the introduction and 'Ordinary and emergent complexity' sections.

Conway's Game of Life

Conway's Game of Life is a beautiful example of complexity emerging from very simple rules. Do the following activities to see how complex things can get:

Read the Wikipedia article on Conway's Game of Life to learn the rules of the game and to begin discovering the impressive structures that have been created in 'Life'.
Now knowing what it means for something to be Turing complete, watch the following video showing the game 'Life' being recreated within 'Life' itself(!) as well as the second video showing other examples of complex, dynamic structures:

Once you've seen how Life works, have a go at playing it yourself here.

Emergence & chaos

Whilst we have initially approached emergence from the ideas of constrained writing and molecular self-assembly, the behaviour of such complex systems can also be approached via the lens of chaos theory. Try out the two fun activities below to find out more:

Play with this double pendulum simulator. It is customisable (with excellent graphical outputs) and has good accompanying explanatory text.
Watch the following video on the logistic map, a beautiful example of complex, chaotic behaviour arising in a system governed by simply defined non-linear dynamics:

Not Emergence...

As previously mentioned, not all structures formed via self-assembly processes are emergent. Indeed, more generally, just because a system is complicated doesn't mean it is complex (see the link above for a reminder of what defines a complex system). A brilliant example of this is seen with the space enclosure example above: unexpected behaviour of a complicated system was observed but it was not because of interaction of constituents governed by simple rules in a complex system, it was because not all necessary variables had been accounted for when designing the complicated system.

This is a really important distinction to make and one that can help us understand the elegance of emergent phenomena.

What you will be doing

Find out the activities to complete in advance of the in-person session on the next page...