Santa Fe Institute

Complex systems often exhibit bi-directional, cross-scale causation. External Professor John Harte's recent seminar explored work on combining top-down statistical approaches with bottom-up process modeling for a new theory of complex systems dynamics. https://lnkd.in/grY6iRVw

In many professions, skills-development is nested. A recent paper in Nature Human Behavior mapped this nestedness, where advanced skills depend on prior mastery of broader skills, with implications for wage inequality and career mobility in increasingly complex labor markets. https://lnkd.in/gaFyirvr

SFI's Complexity podcast is up for a Webby Award! Nominated in the Science & Education category, Episode 2 of the most recent season explores the relationship between language and thought with guests Evelina Federenko, Steve Piantadosi, and Gary Lupyan. If you enjoyed our most recent season on the nature of intelligence, please vote for us! https://lnkd.in/g_V8tquf

The business model for America’s electric power grid has changed little in a century. Yet the last few years have taxed the grid with unprecedented demand from data centers and electrification projects. A working group organized by SFI External Professors Lynne Kiesling and Seth Blumsack explores how we can innovate the grid before it breaks. https://lnkd.in/guimH-rx

Choosing the right climate policies now will shape generations, but policies must be designed carefully or they can backfire. A recent SFI working group on Effective Public Policy Design explored the ways that policy and people evolve alongside each other. https://lnkd.in/gzhAeu9Y

SFI welcomes C. Brandon Ogbunu as a part-time Resident Professor! 🎉 Throughout his academic career, Ogbunu's work and life has defied categorization. As a professor at Yale, he uses modeling tools from computational biology to study the socio-political in concert with the molecular, ecological and epidemiological. In his essays for outlets like Undark, WIRED, and The Atlantic, he has written about evolutionary biology, artificial intelligence, the importance of humor in a public health crisis, and the future of hip-hop. “Discoveries,” Ogbunu says, “are made when you borrow ideas from certain disciplines and carefully and responsibly combine them.” https://lnkd.in/geY7GAgJ

When comparing two objects, people either rely on internal memories or run their hands and eyes over the objects to perceive similarities. The latter approach offloads cognition. It's also more effective, find SFI's Marina Dubova and Arseny Moskvichev in a recent study. https://lnkd.in/diS3SAVZ

You asked, we’ve answered: The Complex World is now available in ebook format! 📖📱 Earlier this week, everyone who entered our random-drawing giveaway for a Foundational Papers set received a complimentary copy of the new Complex World ebook. Thank you again to all our entrants. Want your own digital copy? Click the link below to purchase The Complex World via Kindle, Kobo, or Apple Books! https://lnkd.in/gM-c2icB

Today is the final day to apply to join SFI’s resident faculty. Researchers at SFI enjoy the intellectual freedom to pursue deep, important questions that transcend disciplinary boundaries. Our resident professors are embedded in an international network of complexity scientists and interact with a constantly rotating roster of visiting researchers, artists, writers, industry leaders, and other bold, creative thinkers. Find out more and apply: https://lnkd.in/gSn3SEwZ   

Resident professors at SFI engage with some of the trickiest challenges facing science and society today, bringing their academic expertise into conversation with people from a wide variety of other disciplines. They are closely integrated with our network of more than 100 external faculty and many other visiting researchers, artists, writers, and industry leaders. Resident faculty positions involve no formal teaching and come with funds for travel, visitors, meetings, and non-laboratory equipment. Researchers with a Ph.D., a strong record of excellence in depth and breadth, and a commitment to complex-systems science are encouraged to apply for our open faculty positions. Applications close tomorrow, Friday, March 28, 2025. https://lnkd.in/gSn3SEwZ