Seite - 105 - in Limina - Grazer theologische Perspektiven, Band 3:2

105 | www.limina-graz.eu Sara Lumbreras and Lluis Oviedo | Belief networks as complex systems ̟ Emergence: This is probably the key element in the characterization of complex systems. The emergence of new beliefs is a creative phenomenon. New properties emerge from complex systems. This has been high- lighted as one of its main properties in Systems Theory. In particu- lar, this creativity should be understood as strong emergence in the sense proposed by Chalmers (2006). ̟ Spontaneous order and self-organization: Beliefs organize in more or less consistent and related spheres of influence. They tend to generate in a cohesive manner, with beliefs that have a similar context being closer as well. This means that beliefs about similar things tend to emerge and adapt at relatively close periods of time. In addition, they spontaneously order them- selves in a hierarchical structure, which mimics the structure of concepts in our own minds (Kurzweil 2012). Consistent belief sys- tems have been described by some as “attractors”, states towards which a system tends to evolve (Goertzel 1995). ̟ Adaptation: Belief systems adapt to better fulfil their objectives as described above. The dynamics of belief change have strong dependencies on environmental, personal and social factors (Rodriguez et al. 2016). 6 Concluding remarks This exploratory paper has reflected on the implications of developments in Artificial Intelligence for the study of beliefs. The reviewed advances provide interesting clues on how beliefs work and how they are structured, but at the same time, they reveal the limits of this model, since belief sys- tems in humans have many specific traits that can be hardly reduced to AI systems. Nevertheless, this approach encourages the development of new models of beliefs as complex systems which follow patterns in AI and prob- abilities calculation to some extent but cannot be reduced to them. In all, the ongoing research offers a more in-depth approach to the study of beliefs as specific processes that cannot be easily reduced to other similar cognitive activities, like perception, or evidential cognition, and that play an important role in human life and decisions. The application range of this