Re:Why the past 10 years of American life have been uniquely...
by defterGoose on Tuesday April 12, 2022 @05:15PM
(#31008311)
> Not every observable property is available on the "atomic unit". Some only appear (emergent properties) after the association and observation of many such units, that is, in a group.
Name a property of the group that's more than a sum of the properties of the individual. Population, for instance.
The crystal analogy, again, isn't helpful because we're talking about social science, not physics.
Re:Why the past 10 years of American life have been uniquely...
by coldtea on Tuesday April 12, 2022 @09:10PM
(#31010118)
>Name a property of the group that's more than a sum of the properties of the individual
An individual cannot exhibit groupthink without a group. They also can't have in-group bias without a group. Both important properties in group dynamics.
Roles and positions within a group are similar to the "crystal example" as well, with groups forming particular patterns under specific pressures, patterns impossible to the individual (e.g. an individual is not a "protest march" or a political party).
Not every observable property is available on the "atomic unit". Some only appear (emergent properties) after the association and observation of many such units, that is, in a group.
In particle-terms, a single atom can't be a crystal.
Or a living organism.
But there are absolutely things that happen at the level of crystal forms or living organisms, etc, that don't happen at the single atom level.
>You can talk about tendencies across a group, but cognition is inherently done on an individual level, even accounting for network effects.
Only in a crude understanding of cognition.