Santa Fe Institute

In PNAS, SFI External Professor Ricard Solé and colleagues at Pompeu Fabra University argue that much of the hierarchy in the world could have emerged at random.

In an SFI Community Lecture on Wednesday evening, November 6, in Santa Fe, historian George Dyson tells the story of how a small band of young geniuses not only built the computer but foresaw the new world it would create.

SFI External Professor Elisabeth Wood describes the phenomena of rape, torture, and other civilian abuse during wartime. Hear her interview on the Santa Fe Radio Cafe.

Laura Fortunato is among researchers studying the evolution of language and words -- and cultural practices -- much as biologists study how living organisms evolve, according to a New Scientist cover story.

In a September 30 Business Network topical meeting in London, participants explored the evolution of the modern corporation, the corporate life cycle, the impact of globalization, and the relationship between corporations and other major social institutions.

Research led by SFI Chair of Faculty Jennifer Dunne is among 21 new projects being funded by the NSF to develop a better understanding of how humans and the environment interact.

Graduate students and postdocs participating in SFI's 2013 Complex Systems Summer School collaborated to develop some 15 original research papers. See their research.

An article in the Science Careers section of the journal Science describes the challenges of cross-disciplinary collaboration, mentioning SFI as a research center that has successfully formalized the practice of working across disciplines.

In an SFI Community Lecture in Santa Fe, Steven Pinker and Rebecca Newberger Goldstein asked whether human moral progress is a gift of empathy and emotion or of reason and logic.

On Saturday, November 2, the Santa Fe Institute and the Santa Fe Symphony present a unique immersion in sound and science featuring a multimedia presentation by SFI 's Cris Moore interspersed with musical selections.

SFI's Murray Gell-Mann discusses what it means to think like a scientist, the value of rejecting orthodoxy, complex systems science and theory, and intelligent life on other planets, among other topics.

Joy Covey, a member of SFI's Board of Trustees from 2000 to 2009, died yesterday in a bike accident. She was 50.

In a series of three lectures September 10-12 in Santa Fe, SFI’s Stephanie Forrest revealed surprising commonalities between computers and organisms, then described research that blurs the distinction further. Watch her talks.

SFI External Professor W. Brian Arthur explores how new technology is created, and how closely evolutionary processes in technology mirror those from biology.

Hundreds of 5th-8th grade girls will spend Saturday, October 5, with New Mexico women who have chosen careers in science, technology, engineering, mathematics, and computing.

"Equilibrium is dead," says SFI Business Network member Tim Hodgson of Towers Watson, in an article about the role of complex systems thinking in investment.

SFI is re-offering its popular massive open online course (MOOC) in complex systems science, "Introduction to Complexity," beginning September 30, 2013. 

In early 2013, Melanie Mitchell taught SFI’s first Massive Open Online Course (MOOC). As she begins the course again, she offers her thoughts about the first MOOC and what the future holds for online courses in complexity.

An article in The Guardian about ways to build sustainable cities offers advice from several experts, beginning with SFI Professor Luis Bettencourt.

SFI is seeking nominations and applications for the Cowan Chair in Human Social Dynamics. Apply by November 1, 2013.

In a column in Forbes, SFI Trustee John Chisholm asks whether the theoretical, scientific study of complex systems can inform the hardscrabble world of start-up firms.

External Professor David Wolpert joined SFI's resident faculty on a half-time basis on Monday, September 9, 2013. He also is a member of Los Alamos National Laboratory's Information Sciences Group.

Longtime former SFI Trustee Diana MacArthur and her project to build a school in Pakistan to honor her late daughter are featured in the Santa Fe New Mexican.

Wikipedia acts a bit like one big brain, its editors working independently, yet somehow together performing an enormous cooperative computation, according to an article about Simon DeDeo's research.

In a recent paper, SFI's Marcus Hamilton and colleagues examined 296 projectile points from two New Mexico clusters of Clovis artifacts, linking the two encampments by the workmanship and materials.