Provoking emergence

So how do you provoke emergence? It's a process of gardening, not architecture. Collecting patterns...

Examples of emergent behavior

Markets are an emergent behavior, so designing for emergence is how you create new markets.

You can't top-down plan emergent systems, but you can provoke them into being. Here are some attributes that emergent systems often have:

Evolution
More than one goal, or constraints with no goal
Goals that can be achieved in more than one way
Alphabets - a kit of parts, together with rules for combining them.
Universal APIs
- Example: Lego dots.
- Universal APIs allow anything to be combined with anything.
Verbs that can act on many objects.
Side effects that change constraints create a dancing landscape.
Fun to play with.
- This gets you past the steep part of the learning curve and into creating.
Low floor, wide walls, high ceiling — an easy initial learning curve.
- What can I do immediately? In Minecraft I can dig.
Infinite spaces (or simulated by generative algorithms)
- Examples: No Man's Sky, Spelunky.
Involves more than one person
- See games with more than one player.
- Often has some network effect
- Multipolar arenas (2 or more actors) produce complex outcomes that are difficult to anticipate.
- Create campfires: make opportunities for subcultures to emerge.