This year we are delighted to have Prof. Paul Humphreys as our invited speaker. Our York research associate Paul Andrews has been telling us for some time about Prof. Humphreys’ book “Extending Ourselves”, so it will be interesting to hear what the man himself has to say!
The title of his talk will be “Some Relations between Formal Structure and Conceptual Content in Simulations”.
Abstract
One of the striking features of complex systems modelling, and simulation more generally, is the ability in many cases to transfer models across domains of application. Models using fitness landscapes that originated in population biology can be used in agent based models in economics, abstract computations developed for Boolean algebras can be mapped onto dilute spin glass models, and Ising models from condensed matter physics have been used to model the synchronization of firefly flashing in certain species. This feature, which derives from the formal structure of the models, is also related to how higher level conceptualizations of the subject matter that is being simulated are derived. My talk will explore some issues concerning the relation between the formal and conceptual content of simulations with some remarks about first, how the answers affect the relations between simulations and experiments and second, how conceptual innovation and a particular kind of emergence found in complex systems are connected.
Come to our satellite workshop at the ALifeXII conference to find out more!