Science and Cocktails is proud to present a special episode devoted to Emergence, featuring a panel discussion with leading scientists from around the world and across disciplines. Meet Vijay Balasubramanian, who explores the emergence of space, time, and neural processes; Constantino Tsallis, who investigates the role of entropy in the universe; and Iain Couzin, who studies the collective behaviour of animals and humans. Interwoven with the discussion, the episode will feature a unique audio-visual performance, From the Foam, by Mark IJzerman, in which complex forms arise again and again from simple local interactions, offering a vivid artistic portrayal of emergence.
Emergence is all around us. Interactions between atoms give rise to the richness of matter; interactions between cells give rise to living organisms; and interactions between people give rise to economies, societies, cities, and politics. Space and time themselves may have emerged from something more fundamental. Black holes appear to encode hidden microscopic degrees of freedom. The quarks and gluons of the early universe evolved into the matter that shaped cosmic structure. Quantum elements combine to produce the many forms of matter we observe, while simple local rules allow animal groups to move as if they were one.
