Excerpt

Eastern Europe is in the midst of a transition of historic dimension. What is the nature of the political, social, and economic arrangements that are forming from the aftermath of communism? Are activities in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe evidence of the “emergent” behavior studied by SFI Science Board member John Holland and others? These questions were the focus of a panel discussion, “Social, Political, and Economic Changes in Central and Eastern Europe,” during SFI’s recent Fall Symposium, attended by members of SFI’s Board of Trustees and Business Network. Loren Jenkins, senior foreign editor at National Public Radio, moderated the event.

John Holland, of the University of Michigan, kicked off the discussion with some general comments about the concept of emergent phenomena, a notion whose definition is still—emerging. Holland probably knows more about emergence than anyone does (that is, as the old joke has it, he’s perplexed on a higher and more significant level), but he disclaimed knowing much about Eastern Europe. The other panelists included SFI Trustee Esther Dyson, chairperson of EDventure Holdings, a company focused on new information technology worldwide—particularly the computer markets of Central and Eastern Europe; Harvard University’s Anne Goldfeld, a director of the American Refugee Committee; and sociologist David Stark from Columbia University, who has written extensively on emergent economies in the region. Each knew a great deal about Eastern Europe, particularly the final panel member, Lorand Ambrus-Lakatos, an assistant professor of economics and political science at the Central European University in Budapest. However, none were conventional researchers into emergence.

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