Benjamin De Bari - DeSales University, Pennsylvania, USA
Biography
Title: Emergent Normativity: Origins of Goal-Directedness in Far-From-Equilibrium Self-Organization
Abstract: Systems open to flows of energy and matter will sometimes display spontaneous spatial or temporal pattern formation. These emergent dynamics are called dissipative structures, maintained by irreversible entropy-producing processes. Some such systems display a quality we call emergent normativity, a sensitivity to or "preference" for different states of affairs. When a system displays emergent normativity, these intrinsic norms serve as implicit goals of the system, and we can reliably predict and explain their behavior in terms of end-directedness towards these goals. This talk will briefly outline the circumstances under which emergent normativity is manifest, with examples from non-living dissipative structures. Contrasts will also be made between this emergent normativity and other forms of end-directedness in physics.
