Weak Emergence, Ontological Hierarchies, and Computational Equivalence
This paper examines the implications of Bedau’s notion of weak emergence when combined with both a hierarchical ontological model and Wolfram’s principle of computational equivalence. I argue that if a system exhibits weak emergence, the very fact of weak emergence of some of its states must itself be a weakly emergent state. Interpreted through Wolfram’s principle of computational equivalence, th