Convergent Paths Toward Universality in Complex Systems

这一题为“复杂系统通向普遍性的融合之路”的研讨会将汇集来自不同学科背景的科学家，包括心理学家、物理学家、生态学家、生物学家、计算机科学家、数学家、信息理论家等，阐述一种融合的方法，以探索最近发现的复杂系统的普遍或接近普遍的性质。为期两天的研讨会将在华盛顿特区地区举行，讨论四个主要领域的普遍性问题：信息处理和集体计算、自适应动力学、尺度和相互作用以及能量学。讲习班将对普遍性提出新的观点，并将是确定在这些汇聚领域中发现所需进一步研究的重要和必要步骤。这一项目的成果将通过讲习班对增加对普遍性的了解而产生广泛的影响。研讨会的结果将通过同行评议报告、媒体公告以及在SFI的研讨会和学校由学者、政策制定者和其他利益攸关方参加的讲座广泛传播给广泛的受众。讲习班还将被录像，通过SFI网站和YouTube频道传播，并用于SFI赞助的培训。受邀参加讲习班的人将包括各种不同的参与者，以实现若干方面的多样性，包括教员职级、性别、任职人数不足的群体和机构多样性。这一办法将促进早期职业研究人员的科学和专业发展，以及吸纳来自传统上任职人数不足的群体的科学家。研讨会将汇集不同学科的研究带头人，进行密集讨论，旨在探索复杂系统一系列特征背后的共同机制。最近信息论、标度论、非平衡统计力学和计算理论在远远超出其学科起源的领域被广泛采用，表明了一种指向普遍性的显著趋同。这次会议将集中讨论最成功的统一范例，并寻求探讨它们的基础和概括。会议将确定超越单一学科边界的工具、模型和理论，从而通过新的方法提供重大改进，以在任何给定的领域内取得进展。该奖项反映了NSF的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的智力优势和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

The workshop,"Convergent Paths towards Universality in Complex Systems", will bring together scientists from very diverse disciplinary backgrounds, including psychologists, physicists, ecologists, biologists, computer scientists, mathematicians, information theorists, and others to articulate a convergence approach to explore the recent discovery of universal or near-universal properties of complex systems. The two-day workshop, to be held in the Washington D.C. area will address universality in four primary areas: Information Processing and Collective Computation, Adaptive Dynamics, Scaling and Interactions and Energetics. The workshop will contribute new perspectives on universality and will be an important and necessary step in the identification of further research necessary for discovery in these converging fields. The results of this project will achieve broad impact through the workshop's contributions to increased insight into universality. Results of the workshop will be distributed broadly to a wide range of audiences through peer-reviewed reports, media announcements, and lectures at SFI's workshops and schools attended by academics, policymakers, and other stakeholders. The workshop will also be videotaped for dissemination via the SFI website and YouTube channel as well as for use in SFI sponsored training. Invited workshop participants will include a very diverse range of participants in order to achieve diversity across a number of dimensions, including faculty rank, gender, underrepresented groups and institutional diversity. This approach will facilitate the scientific and professional development of early career researchers as well as the inclusion of scientists from traditionally underrepresented groups. The workshop will bring together research leaders across diverse disciplines for intensive discussions aimed at exploration of common mechanisms underlying a range of features of complex systems. The recent widespread adoption of information-theory, scaling theory, non-equilibrium statistical mechanics, and the theory of computation, in fields that go far beyond their disciplinary origins suggests a significant convergence that points toward universality. This meeting will focus on the most successful examples of unification and seek to explore their basis and generalization. The meeting will identify tools, models and theories that extend beyond the boundaries of single disciplines, and thereby provide significant improvements through novel approaches, to progress within any given field.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.