‘Emergence’ Explained in Everyday Speak…So Defense Forces Might Mean What they Say!

I see the term “emergence” used quite a bit in security, defense and related discussions. It usually is clustered with “complexity”, “non-linear”, and “adaptive” in discussions on how to better equip organizations to deal with uncertainty. Yet often, the term is being misapplied (forced to fit into a framework based not on complexity theory but Newtonian physics and classical warfare theory), rendering it more of a buzz word to spice up a discussion. Another hint that complexity theory is misunderstood by the speaker is when they interchange ‘complex’ and ‘complicated’ in the same sentence…they are indeed quite different and require deeper appreciation so that the concepts translate to the challenge. As for ‘emergence’- the next time you hear it used, try asking the speaker for an example of what emergence is. If they stumble, chances are- you might be winning buzz word bingo.

Usually, ‘emergence’ is played as a synonym for ‘that which is coming up in the future but not quite here yet.’ This is a misnomer- in that emergent phenomenon do indeed express in the future and currently are not in the picture, but emergence in complex systems is far more nuanced. One distinction is whether the person using the term is thinking in systematic or systemic logic. Aside from hitting two more buzz word bingos in that…