All day
The Principles of Complexity: Life, Scale, and Civilization
This will be the first of three annual workshops in a groundbreaking new area: addressing fundamental questions concerning the nature of hidden regularities in complex systems across the physical, biological and social realms.
The workshop organizes around three large-scale research projects and an educational component: (1) the evolution of complexity and intelligence on earth; (2) the scaling laws that pervade complex biological and social phenomena with specific reference to urban life; (3) universal patterns in the emergence of complex societies, and (4) education/curriculum development – complexity explorer. Each of these projects seeks to answer fundamental questions in areas of research where the Santa Fe Institute has a proven record of excellence.
The meeting will involve approximately 45 participants representing a broad range of backgrounds from the mathematical and physical sciences to the social sciences and economics. We will begin the evening of Monday August 6th with a reception and a public event consisting of a panel discussion moderated by David Krakauer (University of Wisconsin-Madison and SFI External Professor). The following two days we will be holding the workshop at the Santa Fe Institute. The first full day, Tuesday, August 7, will consist of four presentations with time for discussion following each speaker. For our education project there will also be a three-member panel discussion. On Wednesday, August 8, team leaders Jerry Sabloff, Geoffrey West, David Krakauer and Ginger Richardson, with SFI Faculty, Omidyar and postdoctoral fellows, interns, and students will introduce their major research areas. Following lunch there will be an open synthetic discussion for all workshop participants.
This event is generously supported through a grant from the John Templeton Foundation.