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Professor Lee Smolin of the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics examines the fundamental Arrow-Debreu model of market equilibrium in neoclassical economics. He asks the basic question always raised by physicists when confronting a new system: What are the system’s symmetries? Addressing this question, he argues that many markets have multiple equilibria. He also explores the application of the principle of gauge invariance to markets — an idea originally introduced by Malaney and Weinstein — and explains some of this principle’s consequences for economic theory.

Speaker: George Francis

For WICI to realize its potential, argues Professor George Francis of environment and resource studies at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ, it should draw upon a cadre of people familiar with different approaches to understanding complex systems, as well as specialists highly accomplished in particular complex phenomena. He briefly summarizes his perspectives derived from years of research and sketches a “consumers’ guide” to world-systems thinking, a well-developed body of scholarship that should be an important part of a WICI repertoire.

Professor Dawn Parker of the School of Planning at the University of ��ݮ��Ƶ reports on a collaborative research project with the University of Michigan exploring land-use change and carbon sequestration in ex-urban landscapes in Southeastern Michigan, with a focus on the carbon implications of landscaping behaviours of developers and residents.

Professor Karen Houle of the University of Guelph argues that, while we now recognize the genuine complexity of many issues, we have yet to rethink the basic — and oddly Newtonian — concepts we use to make normative judgments around those same issues. She discusses what features a concept of responsibility adequate for coping with complex issues must have.

Speaker: Brad Bass

Cities are analogous to peaks on a dynamic fitness landscape. Brad Bass of the University of Toronto discusses this concept theoretically and illustrates it using a geographical analysis of the U.S. Patent Database. This analysis also illustrates networked, authoritative and chaotic search strategies and sheds light on the stability of the central place structure.

Professor Philip Beesley of University of ��ݮ��Ƶ’s School of Architecture describes field-oriented experimental architecture installations, including the recent hylozoic soil and epithelium series. Drawing from the interactive behaviours of these installations, he discusses the implications of architecture that pursues mutually dependent, post-humanist relationships.

Speaker: J. Doyne Farmer

With the advance of global warming, the predictability of future technological change becomes a pressing and relevant issue. Doyne Farmer of the Santa Fe Institute compares several different hypotheses for technological improvement using different examples of technologies, ranging from computers to energy. He shows that it is indeed possible to make useful forecasts of technological progress. He also reviews ideas for why such laws exist, and discusses how one can use this to address problems like global warming.

Mark Tovey, Michael Nielsen, and Hassan Masum explore how new information and communication technologies might allow for new types of political engagement, problem solving, and collective decision-making. They discuss issues such as collective intelligence and open source collaboration in this interactive seminar.

Speaker: Victor Galaz

Leigh Tesfatsion of Iowa State University focuses on the potential use of agent-based test beds for the systematic exploration of proposed changes in institutional arrangements in advance of actual implementation. She uses an agent-based test bed designed for the study of restructured U.S. electricity markets for concrete illustration.

Part 1

Part 2