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October 19, 2006
"Emergence" at the POPTech 2006 Conference
Brian Eno, the artist and musician took the POPTech stage to discuss the concept of “Emergence.” He’s referencing Daniel Dennett’s book, “Darwin’s Dangerous Idea,” which posits that complex systems emerge from simple building blocks, a bottom-up view of emergence as contrasted with the idea that systems come into being from the top-down.
I didn’t realize that Dennett is the director of the Center for Cognitive Studies at Tufts University, which also happens to be my alma mater.
What struck me was the elegance with which Eno described looking at systems from this view and how the concepts posed by Darwin (and Dennett's interpretation) suggests that humankind consider itself with a sense of humility instead of ego. As a speaker, Eno is thought provoking and soft-spoken. It’s a nice way to begin a very reflective 3 days at this incredible event. He is encouraging us to consider the idea of emergence by thinking and feeling about things in a different way. I am conscious of the theme of this year's conference being about "Dangerous Ideas." It's fascinating that looking at our universe in different ways is and has been considered "dangerous."
Eno is followed by Will Wright, who is the creative force behind the award-winning game franchise, “The Sims.” Wright is presenting a rather non-Darwinian demonstration of constructing 3-dimensional and interactive game entities in a virtual world on the POPTech big screen. Ironically, Wright’s demonstration evokes images of a great creator-god, building a universe in (less than) 7 days. Wow…
Speaker Bio: Brian Eno has become an iconic figure within international contemporary culture. As an artist, musician, ideologue and systems-maker, he has established a philosophy of cultural production which links the enquiring spirit of conceptual art to the broadest applications of popular culture and sociology.
Best known in the field of music, Eno’s discography as a musician, producer and artistic collaborator includes some of the most acclaimed recordings in the history of modern music. Artists as seminal yet varied as John Cale, David Byrne, Laurie Anderson, David Bowie, Bono, Peter Gabriel and most recently Paul Simon have chosen to work with Eno, and he is one of the most sought after figures working across the spectrum of contemporary music, from guitar driven rock to film scores and electronica.
And yet music is only one strand of Eno’s creative project. As a lecturer, visual artist, writer, political activist and futurologist, his opinions and ideas have been requested by institutions and think tanks on subjects as disparate as concepts of time, urban futures, perfume making and the history of art.
Posted by Mike at October 19, 2006 2:53 PM
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