In emergent systems, once a stable equilibrium emerges in a given system, perturbations must come from outside the system in order to produce certain kinds of observable change. The Game of Life won't do anything new after a certain point if someone doesn't come and make it do something new. (Is the "interesting" type of Wolfram's cellular automata at 'equilibrium' in its predictable unpredictability?) Where does novelty come from in emergent systems, especially in terms of applyiing them to human history and the human future?