Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
242 | David Krakauer on Complexity, Agency, and Information
10 Jul 2023
Complexity scientists have been able to make an impressive amount of progress despite the fact that there is not universal agreement about what "complexity" actually is. We know it when we see it, perhaps, but there are a number of aspects to the phenomenon, and different researchers will naturally focus on their favorites. Today's guest, David Krakauer, is president of the Santa Fe Institute and a longtime researcher in complexity. He points the finger at the concept of agency. A ball rolling down a hill just mindlessly obeys equations of motion, but a complex system gathers information and uses it to adapt. We talk about what that means and how to think about the current state of complexity science.Blog post with transcript: https://www.preposterousuniverse.com/podcast/2023/07/10/242-david-krakauer-on-complexity-agency-and-information/Support Mindscape on Patreon.David Krakauer received his D.Phil. in evolutionary biology from Oxford University. He is currently President and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute. Previously he was at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, where he was the founding director of the Wisconsin Institute for Discovery and the Co-director of the Center for Complexity and Collective Computation. He was included in Wired magazine's list of "50 People Who Will Change the World."Web siteSanta Fe Institute web pageWikipediaGoogle ScholarSee Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
No persons identified in this episode.
This episode hasn't been transcribed yet
Help us prioritize this episode for transcription by upvoting it.
Popular episodes get transcribed faster
Other episodes from Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
Transcribed and ready to explore now
307 | Kevin Peterson on the Theory of Cocktails
03 Mar 2025
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
306 | Helen Czerski on Our Energetic Oceans
24 Feb 2025
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
303 | AMA | February 2025
03 Feb 2025
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
303 | James P. Allison on Fighting Cancer with the Immune System
27 Jan 2025
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
302 | Chris Kempes on the Biophysics of Evolution
20 Jan 2025
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas
301 | Tina Eliassi-Rad on Al, Networks, and Epistemic Instability
13 Jan 2025
Sean Carroll's Mindscape: Science, Society, Philosophy, Culture, Arts, and Ideas