Exceptional Course

It is a basic course, I was expecting to be more immersed in the mathematical details. There are a few recommendations, however, it was not what I was looking for.

Good sampler course for those curious about emergent patterns across a variety of fields. Casual and fun, although the focus on peer graded assessments somewhat detract from it.

I was disappointed with this course. It was unclear to whom it was intended because in parts it assumed a very limited knowledge of science yet quite a detailed understanding of mathematics, including Newton's method for finding roots, and Fourier series. In most of the sections I was left wanting to learn more. For example, in the module on consciousness, the key issue of how consciousness emerges from the coordinated activity of neurons wasn't touched on, yet there are several theories on how this might come about - I would have loved to have heard about these theories. Overall, I felt each of the modules was too short and too shallow. Perhaps if they were doubled in length then this might address the shortcomings that I experienced.

I also wasn't enamoured with the idea of peer-graded assignments, so I didn't attempt those. But what would have been useful would have been a discussion forum which is a feature of most Coursera courses.

A very good course in introducing advanced concepts in a simple way and have performed the spirit of multidisciplinary research very well.

too simple

Very good none technical introduction to emergent phenomena.

The course is too basic and does not provide much insights. It is also a pity that there is not a forum to discuss with the other students. Overall the course seems managed in a very lazy manner as compared to other coursera courses.

Reductionism versus emergence: merely a short-sighted and fashionable point of view. Nothing to learn here and no way to check that you learned anything.

I'm currently on the second module.

The first module, taught by Michael Dennin was great and got me really excited about this course.

The second module, taught by Donald Saari, is really bad. He takes a subject I find very interesting (Chaos), and makes it boring, prattling on in a very disorganized manner while mostly staring at his toes.

I hoping that subsequent modules are more like Michael Dennin's, which was very well done.

Excellent entry-level course on the subject.

Has new things I never thought about before. Really interesting.

An excellent explanation of a daily growing matter of science and research. I encourage everyone interested in a groundbreaking view of science, to take this course.

Could have been more mathematical. And could have included a section on space-time, since it's been a while that the notion of emergent space-time has entered the theoretical discussions.

Great class and mentally stimulating.

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Awesome

Unsatisfying hodgepodge of examples without any formalism of a very exciting modern subject. Often too superficial and short (3h over 6 week?) for university level. Many lecturer's interview betray their misunderstanding of the course's intended central themes. The student is left wondering in each module what really makes these phenomena emergent beyond being macroscopic properties of complex systems of many agents. The module on consciousness barely attempts a satisfying definition, rather listing a bunch of functions associated with consciousness, and ends frustratingly with a perfect case study without exploring so many of the relevant questions. I'll expand a bit more on that last point: the lecturer says a person with separated brain hemispheres may have two answers to a question: "the left brain thinks yes, the right brain thinks no", and ends there. But what does the person actually think? Do they have 2 personalities, 2 consciousnesses? Or do they maintain a single consciousness, a single awareness? So many questions are raised, but again, the actual interesting topic of what consciousness is and how it may emerge from the brain is not really addressed.

In conclusion, this course gives the impression that emergence is just a vague idea that applies to many domains, but has not really been developed or researched yet. Disappointing.

It's a good course to get acquainted with first hand information about studies in emergent phenomena

It's really a good course because it consists of not too big chunks of information, small enough to get a grip on. Great overview of many completely different fields of science where emergence plays a role. A deeper insight of especially how the brain creates these emergent phenomena would be interesting but of course it's off course ;-), because that would be whole different session.

i enjoyed all the different modules. I recommend they add more explanation to the chaos game assignment.

nice course

I've learned a lot about emergent phenomena on this course.

All the topics are quite interesting and surprising (and I mean every one of them), but all are treated like popular science with little insight. I had to read elsewhere to fully understand some topics such as reaction-difussion systems. All in all, I wish there was a version of this course for those of us who have no fear of mathematics.

Excelent course, I recomend it!