Center for Science in Society

Emergent Systems: A Discussion

Schedule and Discussion Links
Participants
On Line Forum for continuing discussion
Archives

During spring 2005, we will be meeting every Wednesday morning at 8 a.m. in Park 230, the Emergent Intelligence Laboratory. Coffee and muffins start the meeting off, followed by a presentation and discussion. Open to all.

People in a variety of disciplines and walks of life are in the business of trying to make sense of the world. In so doing, all make use of conceptual frameworks, habitual ways of thinking that influence both how one tries to make sense of new observations and the new questions one asks (and doesn't ask). These conceptual frameworks are themselves reflections of the kinds of observations that have and can be made.

Computers, like telescopes and microscopes, have opened a whole new world of possible observations. Because of the rapidity with which they can do well-defined calculations, computers have made it possible to explore the consequences of relatively simple interactions of relatively simple things in ways never before possible (try, for example, the Game of Life or Simple Networks, Simple Rules).

From this new capability are emerging in different arenas significant insights into phenomena long believed too complex for serious analysis ... and perhaps a new quite general conceptual framework applicable in a variety of disciplines and practical contexts. People who are interested the emergence of "emergent systems" as a way of thinking are invited to join this discussion by contacting Ted Wong, Doug Blank, or Paul Grobstein.

emergent.brynmawr.edu/eprg/ - a collaborative, interactive hypertext discussion of emergent systems
Complex Systems on Serendip - additional resources

"If you knew the algorithm and fed it back say ten thousand times, each time there's be a dot somewhere on the screen. You'd never know where to expect the next dot. But gradually you'd start to see this shape, because every dot will be inside the shape of this leaf. ... The unpredictable and the predetermined unfold together to make everything the way it is. It's how nature creates itself, on every scale, the snowflake and the snowstorm." Tom Stoppard, Arcadia, 1993.

Schedule and Discussion Links
September 2, 2004	Organizational Meeting: Working on the Book, Scheduling Presentations
September 9	Al Albano Termites, Boltzmann, Shannon, and Information Participants: Al Albano, Doug Blank, Jim Wright, Lisa Meeden, Anne Dalke, Jan Trembley, Ted Wong, Mark Kuperberg, Karen Greif, Paul Grobstein
September 16	Doug Blank, Kim Cassidy, Anne Dalke, Paul Grobstein Emergent Pedagogy: Learning to Enjoy the Uncontrollable--and Make It Productive Participants: Paul Grobstein, Ted Wong, Alan Baker, Catherine Riihimaki, Anne Dalke, Jan Trembley, Allison Dudin, Rebekah Baglini, Doug Blank, Al Albano, Kim Cassidy, Ted Wong, Wil Franklin
September 23	Rob Wozniak A History of Emergence Participants: Rob Wozniak, Doug Blank, Rich Wicentowski, Alan Baker, Evan Schaffer, Mark Kuperberg, Catherine Riihimaki, Wil Franklin, Anne Dalke, Karen Greif, Paul Grobstein, Jan Trembley, Al Albano, Ted Wong
September 30	Rob Wozniak A History of Emergence, continued Participants: Ted Wong, Anne Dalke, Wil Franklin, Allison Dudin, Paul Grobstein, Doug Blank, Jan Trembley, Al Albano, Karen Greif, Evan Schaffer, Mark Kuperberg, Lisa Meeden
October 7	Rob Wozniak A History of Emergence, continued Participants: Wil Franklin, Alan Baker, Paul Grobstein, Mark Kuperberg, Ted Wong, Al Albano, Doug Blank, Karen Greif, Rebekah Baglini, Jan Trembley, Rob Wozniak, Tim Burke, Anne Dalke
October 21	Mark Kuperberg The Two Faces of Emergence in Economics Participants: Jan Trembley, Tim Burke, Alan Baker, Rob Wozniak, Wil Franklin, Ted Wong, Rich Wicentowski, Geoff Towell, Allison Dudin, Al Albano, Paul Grobstein, Karen Greif, Anne Dalke, Mark Kuperberg
October 28	Paul Grobstein From the Active Inanimate to Models to Stories to Agency (and Back Again) Revisited Participants: Doug Blank, Jan Trembley, Rob Wozniak, Paul Grobstein, Karen Greif, Evan Schaffer, Mark Kuperberg, Anne Dalke, Arielle Abeyta, Rich Wicentowski, Allison Dudin, Ted Wong, Al Albano
November 4	Paul Grobstein From the Active Inanimate to Models to Stories to Agency (and Back Again) Revisited (continued) Participants: Al Albano, Rebekah Baglini, Alan Baker, Tim Burke, Anne Dalke, Wil Franklin, Karen Greif, Paul Grobstein, Mark Kuperberg, Geoff Towell, Jan Trembley, Rob Wozniak
November 11	Tim Burke Artificial Societies Meet Virtual Worlds Participants: Al Albano, Rebekah Baglini, Alan Baker, Doug Blank, Tim Burke, Anne Dalke, Wil Franklin, Karen Greif, Paul Grobstein, Mark Kuperberg, Geoff Towell, Jan Trembley, Rich Wicentowski, Neal Williams
December 9	Alan Baker Emergence Concepts in the Philosphophical Literature Participants: Alan Baker, Paul Grobstein, Karen Greif, Mark Kuperberg, Al Albano, Ted Wong, Rich Wicentowski, Jan Trembley, Doug Blank, Rob Wozniak

January 19, 2005	Alan Baker Emergence Concepts in the Philosophical Literature (continued) "Varieties of Emergentism" (paper discussed, by Achim Stephan) Participants: Deepak Kumar, Ted Wong, Rebekah Baglini, Doug Blank, Al Albano, Anne Dalke, Karen Greif, Alan Baker, Jan Trembley, Paul Grobstein, Rob Wozniak
January 26	Paul Grobstein Idealism, Pragmatism, and the Bipartite Brain: Having One's Cake and Eating it Too Participants: Paul Grobstein, Ted Wong, Deepak Kumar, Geoff Towell, Rebekah Baglini, Maria Scott-Wittenborn, Anne Dalke, Al Albano, Rob Wozniak, Jan Trembley, Doug Blank, Wil Franklin, Bethany Keffala
February 2	Paul Grobstein Idealism, Pragmatism, and the Bipartite Brain: Having One's Cake and Eating it Too (continued) Participants: Doug Blank, Geoff Towell, Anne Dalke, Rebekah Baglini, Karen Greif, Paul Grobstein, Jan Trembley, Maria Scott-Wittenborn, Rob Wozniak, Deepak Kumar, Ted Wong, Bethany Keffala
February 9	Rob Wozniak Experience and the bipartite brain: the magical number 2 plus or minus 3 Participants: Rob Wozniak, Paul Grobstein, Doug Blank, Deepak Kumar, Ted Wong, Geoff Towell, Karen Greif, Anne Dalke, Wil Franklin, Alan Baker, Mark Kuperberg, Tim Burke, Bethany Keffala
February 16	Rob Wozniak Consciousness and Experience Participants: Rob Wozniak, Paul Grobstein, Doug Blank, Deepak Kumar, Ted Wong, Geoff Towell, Karen Greif, Anne Dalke, Wil Franklin, Alan Baker, Mark Kuperberg, Tim Burke, Bethany Keffala
February 23	Lisa Meeden and Doug Blank Memory in artificial neural networks Pre-discussion reading: "Finding Structure in Time" Participants: Lisa Meeden, Doug Blank, Wil Franklin, Paul Grobstein, Anne Dalke, Karen Greif, Ted Wong, Rebekah Baglini, Mark Kuperberg, Geoff Towell, Deepak Kumar, Rich Wicentowski, Alan Baker, Jan Trembley, Rob Wozniak
March 2	Lisa Meeden and Doug Blank Memory in artificial neural networks, Part II Pre-discussion reading: "Bringing up robot: Fundamental mechanisms for creating a self-motivated, self-organizing architecture" Participants: Doug Blank, Lisa Meeden, Tim Burke, Ted Wong, Jan Trembley, Rich Wicentowski, Alan Baker, Paul Grobstein, Geoff Towell, Wil Franklin, Jason Coleman, Maria Scott-Wittenborn, Deepak Kumar, Karen Greif, Anne Dalke, Rebekah Baglini
March 9	SPRING BREAK
March 16	Lisa Meeden and Doug Blank Memory, representation, and abstraction in artificial neural network-controlled mobile robots Participants: Doug Blank, Rob Wozniak, Tim Burke, Alan Baker, Rich Wicentowski, Deepak Kumar, Anne Dalke, Al Albano, Paul Grobstein, Mark Kuperberg, Karen Greif, Ted Wong, Rebekah Baglini, Wil Franklin, Lisa Meeden
March 23	Paul Grobstein The relationship between science and academia, including an introduction to the Journal of Research Practice, a new journal affiliated with the Center for Science in Society Pre-discussion reading: Revisiting Science in Culture: Science as Story Telling and Story Revising, Paul Grobstein Participants: Jan Trembley, Anne Dalke, Paul Grobstein, Karen Greif, Ted Wong, Rebekah Baglini, Wil Franklin, Geoff Towell
March 30	Doug Blank Readings: Elman, J.L. (1999). "The emergence of language: A conspiracy theory." In B. MacWhinney (Ed.) "Emergence of Language." Hillsdale, NJ: Lawrence Earlbaum Associates. Origins of language: A conspiracy theory Jeff Elman's website
April 6	Rich Wicentowski
April 13	Deepak Kumar The logics of artificial intelligence
April 20	Jeff Elman (virtual)
April 27	Wil Franklin & Anne Dalke "An Emergent Response to Benedict XVI's Assault on Relativism"
May 4	Jan Trembley "An Introduction to Emergence"
May 11	Jan Trembley "Defining Emergence" (continuation of May 4th discussion)
May 25	Anne Dalke "Where Words Come From-and Where They Go: Emergent Literature, Emergent Meaning"
June 1	David Kenosian "Ask not what I can do for Emergence, but What can Emergence do for me?"
June 8	Jason Coleman "Emergence in Video Games"
June 15	Jason Coleman "Emergence in Video Games" (continued)
June 22	Paul Grobstein and Rebekah Baglini "Stories, Authors, and Purpose: Langton's Ant Revisited"
June 29	Mark Kuperberg Return of the Reductionist: Mark's Thinking about "Thinking About 'Purpose'"
July 6	Karen Greif "Can we model a cell?"
July 13	Mark Kuperberg Return of the Reductionist: Mark's Thinking about "Thinking About 'Purpose'" (continued)

Emergent Systems: A Discussion

emergent.brynmawr.edu/eprg/ - a collaborative, interactive hypertext discussion of emergent systems Complex Systems on Serendip - additional resources

Schedule and Discussion Links

Archives

emergent.brynmawr.edu/eprg/ - a collaborative, interactive hypertext discussion of emergent systems
Complex Systems on Serendip - additional resources