Emergence in holographic scenarios for gravity

‘Holographic’ relations between theories have become an important theme in quantum gravity research. These relations entail that a theory without gravity is equivalent to a gravitational theory with an extra spatial dimension. The idea of holography was first proposed in 1993 by Gerard ׳t Hooft on the basis of his studies of evaporating black holes. Soon afterwards the holographic ‘AdS/CFT’ duality was introduced, which since has been intensively studied in the string theory community and beyond. Recently, Erik Verlinde has proposed that even Newton׳s law of gravitation can be related holographically to the ‘thermodynamics of information’ on screens. We discuss these scenarios, with special attention to the status of the holographic relation in them and to the question of whether they make gravity and spacetime emergent. We conclude that only Verlinde׳s scheme straightforwardly instantiates emergence. However, assuming a non-standard interpretation of AdS/CFT may create room for the emergence of spacetime and gravity there as well.     

基于CGP模型的涌现研究

涌现是复杂性理论中的一个重要概念。在讨论涌现基本概念的基础上 ,介绍了一种用于研究复杂系统涌现行为的模型方法———CGP模型 ,给出了一个CGP模型的具体例子———采集机器人的仿真模型。通过对这个模型进行仿真实验 ,观察到机器人简单的状态转换函数和看似杂乱无章的行为产生了具有明显规律性的结果 ,对这种涌现现象的产生进行了分析 ,指出了它的现实意义。     

Structure,scale and emergence

In this paper I consider the structures that chemists and physicists attribute at the molecular scale to substances and materials of various kinds, and how they relate to structures and processes at other scales. I argue that the structure of a substance is the set of properties and relations which are preserved across all the conditions in which it can be said to exist. In short, structure is abstraction. On the basis of this view, and using concrete examples, I argue that structures, and therefore the chemical substances and other materials to which they are essential, are emergent. Firstly, structures themselves are scale-dependent because they can only exist within certain physical conditions, and a single substance may have different structures at different scales (of length, time and energy). Secondly, the distinctness of both substances and structures is a scale-dependent relationship: above a certain point, two distinct possibilities may become one. Thirdly, the necessary conditions for composition, for both substances and molecular species, are scale-dependent. To know whether a group of nuclei and electrons form a molecule it is not enough to consider energy alone: one also has to know about their environment and the lifetime over which the group robustly hangs together.     

从复杂系统科学的发展看突现与还原之争

突现与还原的关系问题是复杂系统科学哲学领域的一个重要问题。本文从突现与还原的传统论争出发,审视Jaegwon Kim这一代表性人物对突现思想提出的新挑战,进而从复杂系的突现性对这种新的挑战作出回应,阐释层次之间存在着协同进化的复杂因果关系网络,而不是简单的线性还原,突现是对还原的超越与补充。     

从系统科学角度探究“哲学始于惊讶”的本质

从柏拉图、亚里士多德开始就认为"哲学始于惊讶",但对此问题的研究仍比较粗浅。惊讶是广泛的,它是获得智慧的人脑机能基本过程。惊讶的本质是人脑内思维非简单和的涌现。从系统科学角度探究"哲学始于惊讶"的丰富本质,使哲学作为智慧和一般知识的关系有一个新角度的认识。     

探讨用系统哲学原理诠释科学发展观的科学内涵

我国经历了60年伟大的社会主义建设的发展实践,在60年的历程中,取得了丰富的成功经验和一系列的历史性教训。"科学发展观,是立足社会主义初级阶段基本国情,总结我国发展实践,借鉴国外发展经验,适应新的发展要求提出来的。"本文试图用学习系统哲学之体会,进一步理解与诠释科学发展观的科学内涵。文中根据系统哲学中的协同和谐原理、自组(织)涌现原理和整体优化原理来探讨科学发展观的含义,试图说明树立科学发展观就应学会用系统思维方法和系统哲学原理来思考问题和处理问题。文中还讨论了整体优化律发展了否定之否定律和人们的知识结构整体优化的有关问题。     

论系统突现的概念——响应乌杰教授对自组织涌现律的研究

突现是复杂系统的首要特征，理清突现的概念是研究复杂系统科学哲学的首要问题之一。通过亚里士多德等人对整体的描述、邦格与贝斯对突现的表达，将自组织、观察机制及层级的思想纳入突现的概念分析中，提出关于突现的观点与概念的表达式。     

The quantitative content of statistical mechanics

I give a brief account of the way in which thermodynamics and statistical mechanics actually work as contemporary scientific theories, and in particular of what statistical mechanics contributes to thermodynamics over and above any supposed underpinning of the latter׳s general principles. In doing so, I attempt to illustrate that statistical mechanics should not be thought of wholly or even primarily as itself a foundational project for thermodynamics, and that conceiving of it this way potentially distorts the foundational study of statistical mechanics itself.     

Interpretation neutrality in the classical domain of quantum theory

I show explicitly how concerns about wave function collapse and ontology can be decoupled from the bulk of technical analysis necessary to recover localized, approximately Newtonian trajectories from quantum theory. In doing so, I demonstrate that the account of classical behavior provided by decoherence theory can be straightforwardly tailored to give accounts of classical behavior on multiple interpretations of quantum theory, including the Everett, de Broglie–Bohm and GRW interpretations. I further show that this interpretation-neutral, decoherence-based account conforms to a general view of inter-theoretic reduction in physics that I have elaborated elsewhere, which differs from the oversimplified picture that treats reduction as a matter of simply taking limits. This interpretation-neutral account rests on a general three-pronged strategy for reduction between quantum and classical theories that combines decoherence, an appropriate form of Ehrenfest׳s Theorem, and a decoherence-compatible mechanism for collapse. It also incorporates a novel argument as to why branch-relative trajectories should be approximately Newtonian, which is based on a little-discussed extension of Ehrenfest׳s Theorem to open systems, rather than on the more commonly cited but less germane closed-systems version. In the Conclusion, I briefly suggest how the strategy for quantum-classical reduction described here might be extended to reduction between other classical and quantum theories, including classical and quantum field theory and classical and quantum gravity.     

技术创新体系的涌现及其实现条件研究

技术创新体系是一个复杂适应性系统,该系统的涌现是系统演化的结果,涌现是系统追求的目标。依据复杂适应系统理论提出整个产生涌现时各适应性主体应具备的条件。