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Thinking back, it is almost funny what a vague idea of "emergence" I had at the beginning of the semester. Although I had heard of the term and had had other people explain it to me, I had been thinking that "emergence" is still an undefined concept, which I guess is why it seemed so attractive and interesting to me.

Though I still consider "emergence" to be a multi-faceted, continuously growing idea,  if I were asked to define emergence in one short sentence, based on what we learned through this course, I would say that it is one way of thinking about the various phenomena we observe in the world. I may even say that it is a new, different way of thinking (at least for me).  It was fascinating to discover that emergence is a way of thinking that is truly applicable to the real world.

What I found really appealing about the idea of emergence is its simplicity. Personally, I think that we all feel a certain level of comfort and relief when we encounter something that is simple. This is probably even truer today, when everything in the world seems so complex and colorful. This comfort that we feel is probably the reason why some brands that sell products with extremely simple designs (like muji) are so successful at attracting costumers.

 It seemed like we all pretty much agreed that emergence is a useful way to think about real world phenomena- the next step is probably to find out how we can let others know about that this idea exists, and come up with ways to promote a better understanding of emergence. Whatever method we choose to take (blogging, computer modeling etc), I think that simplicity is the key.