Emergent Properties Do Not Refine
Fiona Polack, Susan Stepney · Electronic Notes in Theoretical Computer Science · 2005
Refinement is conventionally used to effect a demonstrably-correct development from an abstract specification. Emergent systems present an interesting challenge in terms of demonstrably-correct development, because there is a discontinuity between the global and local system descriptions. This is a position paper, exploring some aspects of the challenge in relation to the traditional model of refinement.