But Experience is Different

Emergence and the coherence that may arise from it is not a principle of order and equilibrium, but rather a principle of interaction and self-creation. Complexification, development, and renewal may provide emergent energy, but their instability can also endanger existence. Becoming may lead to constant creation, activity, and participation, but will the result be able to sustain itself as organization? As we have seen, affordances can offer lots of possibilities, but that does not mean that they are worth pursuing or ever will be successful. Emergence will happen. But, that is no sinecure. The homologies can be worthwhile, innovative, superficial, profound, and flaky. Affordances pull existence to activity, but not all activity is worthwhile. As we have stressed, emergence can be valuable and malignant, ethically rewarding and destructive.