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LIT-1630: Coarse-graining as a downward causation mechanism

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StatusActive — read in full 2026-10-27 (NOTE-1216); worth reading as the general, operational statement of Flack's account: downward causation as components tuning to their own estimates of aggregate variables they collectively compute, in a weak (apparent) and a strong (effective) form, with a new organizational level only at the strong form. A conceptual paper; the macaque results are reviewed, not reported. Its criteria put convergence of estimates, not regeneration of the variable, beyond use.
Version2
Tagscomplex-systems, social-science, causality
Cited as “paper” byNOTE-1216 — Flack — Coarse-graining as a downward causation mechanism
Cited as “source” byTHEORY-1061 — Flack makes downward causation operational as components tuning their behaviour to their own estimates of aggregate variables they collectively compute: weak (apparent) when at least one component tunes to a variable slower than the behaviour producing it, strong (effective) when the variable is predictive, robust, used nearly universally, agreed on and gaining mutual information with the microscopic behaviour; she speaks of a new level only at the strong form, and regeneration of the variable by its use is not among her criteria, THEORY-1073 — An aggregate variable much slower than the behaviour producing it becomes an environment the components tune to whether or not it summarizes the underlying regularities well, which helps coordination; if it summarizes them poorly the system likely fails in the end, later the larger the separation

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Flack, J. C. (2017). Coarse-graining as a downward causation mechanism. Philosophical Transactions of the Royal Society A, 375(2109), 20160338. doi:10.1098/rsta.2016.0338.

Read in full on 2026-10-27 (NOTE-1216).

Why this is here

A12 and A13 put it at the centre of the endogenous half of the scale- separation account: a slow variable becomes part of the dynamics when components use it. That is CLAIM-327, which the record filed from Flack’s 2012 paper (LIT-1122, unread) and which A12 cited. This is the later, general statement.

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