https://mishavelthuis.nl/tags/science/ Recent content in Science on Misha Velthuis Hugo en Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0200 https://mishavelthuis.nl/posts/emergence/ Fri, 03 Apr 2026 12:00:00 +0200 https://mishavelthuis.nl/posts/emergence/ <p>Yesterday, in an after-class discussion with a student, I found myself questioning the value of the concept of emergence, and the way it is embraced not just by complexity theorists but by the sciences at large. Today I found some time to think through the argument a bit more and then boom, this blog post EMERGED.</p> <p>In short, I feel that the idea of emergence, and much of complexity theory in general, is just a form of &ldquo;science-plaining&rdquo;, where science invents its own jargon to &ldquo;explain&rdquo; to the humanities (and people at large) what they have known for centuries, while maintaining the untenable position that it &ldquo;objectively describes the world&rdquo;.</p>