1.2.15—Emergent properties
- Syllabus
- First assessment 2026
- Objective
- 1.2.15
- Level
- SL
Emergence Comes from Interaction
An emergent property is a system-level pattern produced by component interactions that no isolated component has alone.
Name the interaction that generates the larger pattern. Complexity alone is not emergence; the property must arise from relationships.
Predator–prey oscillations arise from feeding and reproduction links; neither one predator nor one prey contains the cycle.
Not by itself; explain which interactions create a property absent from isolated trees.
Complicated is not the same as emergent; interaction must generate the pattern.