# Idea [[Phillip Anderson]] described in his paper [[Anderson 1972 more is different]] the idea of [[emergence]] and how it's not enough to study the parts if we want to understand the entire system. Wetness is the property of a bunch of water molecules. We cannot study and observe wetness if we look at just a single water molecule. We cannot understand cognition and consciousness by studying individual neurons. To study [[emergence|emergent]] properties, we need to study both the parts and their sum. Simple actions and rules, when summed or aggregated, can result in phenomena that are surprisingly complex. # References - https://www.coursera.org/learn/model-thinking/lecture/UWXGF/aggregation - [Future ML Systems Will Be Qualitatively Different](https://bounded-regret.ghost.io/future-ml-systems-will-be-qualitatively-different/)