The Necessary and Sufficient Conditions for Emergence in Systems Applied to Symbol Emergence in Robots

A conceptual model for emergence with downward causation is developed. In addition, the necessary and sufficient conditions are identified for a phenomenon to be considered emergent in a complex system. It is then applied to symbol emergence in robots. This paper is motivated by the usefulness of emergence to explain a wide variety of phenomena in systems, and cognition in natural and artificial creatures. Downward causation is shown to be a critical requirement for potentially emergent phenomena to be considered actually emergent. Models of emergence with and without downward causation are described and how weak emergence can include downward causation. A process flow is developed for distinguishing emergence from nonemergence based upon the application of reductionism and detection of downward causation. Examples are shown for applying the necessary and sufficient conditions to filter out actually emergent phenomena from nonemergent ones. Finally, this approach for detecting emergence is applied to complex projects and symbol emergence in robots.