I once believed knowledge can be built from the group up, thinking that if we grasp the basics, we could easily understand more complex concepts. This is a mistake of reductionism. Some things only emerge when looking at the higher level and can’t be predicted just by analyzing the parts. For example, to understand the future of the solar system, we need to take the emergence of life into consideration.
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Notes on reductionism (#32)
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I once believed knowledge can be built from the group up, thinking that if we grasp the basics, we could easily understand more complex concepts. This is a mistake of reductionism. Some things only emerge when looking at the higher level and can’t be predicted just by analyzing the parts. For example, to understand the future of the solar system, we need to take the emergence of life into consideration.