> Regarding emergence, can we replace it with the term self organization in order to ground it?
Thanks for this suggestion, I'll look into it. Frankly my understanding of how 'emergence' is used may be uninformed. I had assumed it referred simply to the emergence of a conscious intelligence (the possibility of which I reject). However if it refers to the emergence of self organisation then I am much more open to that. Perhaps that is the distinction you are referring to between weak and strong emergence? Anyway, it appears I need to do some reading here.