#Democritus (Greek: Δημόκριτος, Dēmókritos, meaning chosen of the people) claimed that everything starts from atoms, in a bottom-up #causation.
#Democracy (Greek: δημοκρατία, dēmokratiā, from dēmos ‘people’ and kratos ‘rule’) can be described as #emergent top-down #control mechanisms based on the free association and decision of autonomous individuals.
All #causation is bottom-up or from the inside-out. There is no such thing as top-down causation imposed from the outside. There is only an emergent (internal) level of constraints and other control mechanisms generated by the interaction of individuals fulfilling a common need or objective.