{"id":228442,"date":"2026-01-06T17:08:04","date_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:08:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/emergent-complexity"},"modified":"2026-01-06T17:08:04","modified_gmt":"2026-01-06T23:08:04","slug":"emergent-complexity","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/emergent-complexity","title":{"rendered":"Emergent Complexity"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><\/p>\n<p><iframe style=\"display: block; margin: 0 auto; width: 100%; aspect-ratio: 4\/3; object-fit: contain;\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/0HqUYpGQIfs?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; encrypted-media; gyroscope;\n   picture-in-picture\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>\u201cmilliards\u201d means \u201cbillions\u201d btw.<\/p>\n<p>Here is Emergent Garden\u2019s thoughts on emergent complexity. I go through a tour of simple systems that produce unexpected complexity, and try to break down emergence into more general and useful ideas. We talk about snowflakes and ant colonies, cellular automata and universe simulations, and the many weird ideas of Stephen Wolfram. I also offer some advice for creating and encouraging emergent behavior. This video is important to me. Emergence is the most interesting thing in the universe.<\/p>\n<p>~SUPPORT ME~<br \/> Scrimba: <a href=\"https:\/\/scrimba.com\/?via=EmergentGarden\">https:\/\/scrimba.com\/?via=EmergentGarden<\/a>.<br \/> Patreon: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/emergentgarden\">https:\/\/www.patreon.com\/emergentgarden<\/a>.<br \/> Ko-fi: <a href=\"https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/emergentgarden\">https:\/\/ko-fi.com\/emergentgarden<\/a>.<br \/> Twitter: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/max_romana\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/max_romana<\/a>.<br \/> Bluesky: <a href=\"https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/emergentgarden.bsky.social\">https:\/\/bsky.app\/profile\/emergentgarden.bsky.social<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p>~SOURCES~<br \/> Particle Life: <a href=\"https:\/\/sandbox-science.com\/particle-life\">https:\/\/sandbox-science.com\/particle-life<\/a>.<br \/> Universe Sandbox: <a href=\"https:\/\/universesandbox.com\/\">https:\/\/universesandbox.com\/<\/a><br \/> Lego Galaxy: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=djLyoDmSPF0\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=djLyoDmSPF0<\/a><br \/> Big Bang: <a href=\"https:\/\/svs.gsfc.nasa.gov\/12656\/\">https:\/\/svs.gsfc.nasa.gov\/12656\/<\/a><br \/> Emergence Animation: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/video\/an-artist-s-illustration-of-artificial-intelligence-ai-this-video-explores-how-ai-can-be-used-advance-biology-and-protein-folding-it-was-created-by-twistedpoly-as-part-of-the-visualisi-25744130\/\">https:\/\/www.pexels.com\/video\/an-artist-s-illustration-of-art\u2026-25744130\/<\/a><br \/> Ants Solving Maze: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Damnthatsinteresting\/comments\/1hlyvmw\/ants_making_a_smart_maneuver\/\">https:\/\/www.reddit.com\/r\/Damnthatsinteresting\/comments\/1hlyv\u2026_maneuver\/<\/a><br \/> Neuron Footage: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2TIK9oXc5Wo\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=2TIK9oXc5Wo<\/a>.<br \/> Snowflake Footage: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=q-PQk2-Po-g\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=q-PQk2-Po-g<\/a>.<br \/> The Life Engine: <a href=\"https:\/\/thelifeengine.net\">https:\/\/thelifeengine.net<\/a>.<br \/> Water Molecule Sim: <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/EdgarGonzalezGT\/status\/1877078173910753452\">https:\/\/twitter.com\/EdgarGonzalezGT\/status\/1877078173910753452<\/a><br \/> Langton\u2019s Ant Simulator: <a href=\"https:\/\/evolvecode.io\/turmites\/index.html\">https:\/\/evolvecode.io\/turmites\/index.html<\/a>.<br \/> Conway\u2019s Game of Life: <a href=\"https:\/\/playgameoflife.com\/\">https:\/\/playgameoflife.com\/<\/a><br \/> Recursive Game of Life: <a href=\"https:\/\/oimo.io\/works\/life\/\">https:\/\/oimo.io\/works\/life\/<\/a><br \/> A New Kind of Science: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wolframscience.com\/nks\/\">https:\/\/www.wolframscience.com\/nks\/<\/a><br \/> Stephen Wolfram Podcasts: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PdE-waSx-d8&list=PLdwvZsAHiSKvHTqcoqGp-mv9ChTYxtZsD\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=PdE-waSx-d8&amp;list=PLdwvZsAHiS\u20269ChTYxtZsD<\/a><br \/> Complexity, A Guided Tour: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Complexity-Guided-Tour-Melanie-Mitchell\/dp\/0199798109?tag=lifeboatfound-20\">https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Complexity-Guided-Tour-Melanie-Mitche\u2026atfound-20<\/a><br \/> Wolfram Hypergraph Simulator: <a href=\"https:\/\/met4citizen.github.io\/Hypergraph\/\">https:\/\/met4citizen.github.io\/Hypergraph\/<\/a><br \/> Atom Orbital Simulation: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.falstad.com\/qmatom\/\">https:\/\/www.falstad.com\/qmatom\/<\/a><br \/> Lego Bonsai Alternate Build: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YnuCOrCJojw\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=YnuCOrCJojw<\/a>.<br \/> Lego Blocks Made of Legos:<br \/> Tornado: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LGcGFU_Hi9U\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=LGcGFU_Hi9U<\/a><br \/> Carl Sagan\u2019s Cosmos: <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/cosmos_1980\/COSMOS_01.mp4\">https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/cosmos_1980\/COSMOS_01.mp4<\/a>.<br \/> Terry Davis Quote: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=k0qmkQGqpM8\">https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/watch?v=k0qmkQGqpM8<\/a><\/p>\n<p>My Music Guy: <a href=\"https:\/\/youtube.com\/@acolyte-compositions?si=2P97LlROhNgQYOa\">https:\/\/youtube.com\/@acolyte-compositions?si=2P97LlROhNgQYOa<\/a><br \/> \u201cDeliberate Thought\u201c<br \/> Kevin MacLeod <a href=\"http:\/\/(incompetech.com\">(incompetech.com<\/a>)<br \/> Licensed under Creative Commons: By Attribution 3.0<br \/>\n<a href=\"http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0\/\">http:\/\/creativecommons.org\/licenses\/by\/3.0\/<\/a><\/p>\n<p>~TIMESTAMPS~<\/p>\n<div class=\"more-link-wrapper\"> <a class=\"more-link\" href=\"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/2026\/01\/emergent-complexity\">Continue reading \u201cEmergent Complexity\u201d | &gt;<\/a><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>\u201cmilliards\u201d means \u201cbillions\u201d btw. Here is Emergent Garden\u2019s thoughts on emergent complexity. I go through a tour of simple systems that produce unexpected complexity, and try to break down emergence into more general and useful ideas. We talk about snowflakes and ant colonies, cellular automata and universe simulations, and the many weird ideas of Stephen [\u2026]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":661,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1527,493,42,48],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-228442","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-alien-life","category-climatology","category-media-arts","category-particle-physics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228442","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/661"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=228442"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/228442\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=228442"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=228442"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lifeboat.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=228442"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}