Simplifying Complexity

Do you have free will? - Part 1 Feb 03, 2025

In this episode, Kevin Mitchell, Associate Professor of Genetics and Neuroscience at Trinity College Dublin, takes us on a journey from single-celled organisms to human consciousness to explore if we have free will.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Law and complexity science Jan 20, 2025

Today we're joined by Michal Shur-Ofry, Associate Professor at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem law faculty, as she discusses the law and complex systems.

In this episode, you'll hear how traditional legal approaches often take an overly simplistic view of the systems they're trying to regulate, how the patent system could be improved by using network science to measure true innovation, and why understanding exponential growth during events like pandemics challenges our conventional legal principles of proportionality.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The scientist who made the digital world possible - Part 2 Jan 06, 2025

In the last episode, Jimmy Soni introduced Dr Claude Shannon, whose work laid the foundation for the technologies we use today.

In this episode, Jimmy dives into the significance of Dr Shannon’s 1948 paper “A Mathematical Theory of Communication” to the creation of information theory.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The scientist who made the digital world possible - Part 1 Dec 23, 2024

Dr Claude Shannon is one of the most influential scientists you’ve likely never heard of whose work laid the foundations for the information age.

To explain the significance of Dr Shannon’s impact on modern computing, we’re joined by Jimmy Soni, author of “A Mind at Play: How Claude Shannon Invented the Information Age” and “The Founders: The Story of PayPal and the Entrepreneurs Who Shaped Silicon Valley”.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The dynamics of financial instability Dec 09, 2024

Steve Keen is an Economist and Honorary Professor at University College London and is currently lecturing at the University of Amsterdam.

In this episode, Steve explains the differences between neoclassical and post-Keynesian economics before discussing how concepts from complexity science and chaos theory can be used to develop economic models that actually factor in booms and busts.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The brain as a complex system Nov 25, 2024

How does the brain actually work?

In this episode, Christopher Lynn, Assistant Professor of Physics at Yale University, explains how network science can help us understand how our brains work.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The diets of half-a-billion-year-old species Nov 11, 2024

In our last two episodes with Professor Jennifer Dunne, the Vice President for Science at the Santa Fe Institute, she explained food webs with a focus on her work in the Gulf of Alaska.

In this episode, Jennifer discusses how fossil records are helping researchers reconstruct food webs from half a billion years ago and the insights we can glean from comparing ancient food webs to modern ones.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Four pieces of music Oct 28, 2024

Today we're joined again by Dmitri Tymoczko, Professor of Music at Princeton University. Last time, Dmitri discussed the underlying principles that make music sound ‘good’.

In this episode, Dmitri explores the integration of music theory into improvisational and algorithmic music. He discusses how modern technology allows musicians to blend traditional and improvisational elements with algorithms to create something completely different from the music of the past.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

How curiosity works Oct 14, 2024

Today we’re joined by Dani S. Bassett, J. Peter Skirkanich Professor at the University of Pennsylvania and External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and Perry Zurn, Visiting Associate Professor of Feminist, Gender, and Sexuality Studies at Cornell University and Provost Associate Professor of Philosophy at American University.

In today’s episode, Dani and Perry explore the concept of curiosity.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Understanding Cities - Part 2 Sep 30, 2024

In our last episode, Professor Michael Batty from The Bartlett Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis at University College London explained the evolution of city planning and the fundamentals needed to understand city structures and models.

In today’s episode, Michael delves into various theories and laws for explaining urban systems, the role of different models in understanding and predicting city development, and the need to refine these models to facilitate better management of increasingly complex urban environments.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Understanding Cities - Part 1 Sep 16, 2024

In this episode, we’re joined by Michael Batty, Bartlett Professor of Planning at University College London and Chair of the Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis, to discuss the evolution of city planning and the shift away from traditional mechanical views.

In today’s episode, Michael lays the groundwork for understanding cities that will be essential for part two of this conversation.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

In conversation with Jason Fried Sep 02, 2024

Jason Fried is the Co-founder and CEO of 37signals, the software development firm behind Basecamp (a project management app), and HEY (an inbox and calendar app).

In this episode, Jason dives into what 25 years of business has taught him. He shares his advice for hiring staff, getting meaningful insight from reference checks, and why you should always hire a candidate who is the better writer.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Food webs, humans and cod - Part 2 Aug 19, 2024

In this episode, we continue our conversation with Professor Jennifer Dunne, the Vice President for Science at the Santa Fe Institute.

In this episode, Jennifer discusses her work to understand ‘human-centred interaction networks’ - how humans interact with non-human species in a range of ways, including for food - by examining Indigenous cultures around the world and historical migration to Polynesian islands.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Food webs, humans and cod - Part 1 Aug 05, 2024

In this episode, Professor Jennifer Dunne, the Vice President for Science at the Santa Fe Institute, explains how you build a food web, focusing on her ecological work in the Gulf of Alaska.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Stereotypes and crime Jul 22, 2024

We're joined again by Rajiv Sethi, Professor of Economics at Barnard College at Columbia University and External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute to explore the intersection between stereotyping, crime, and the justice system to understand criminal behaviour beyond simplistic explanations.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The city of the future Jul 08, 2024

What will the city of the future be like?

To explore the future of our cities, we’re joined once more by Luis Bettencourt, Professor at the University of Chicago and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, as he explains how urban areas will need to evolve in terms of infrastructure and sustainability to match pace with growing populations around the world.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Governing the power grid Jun 24, 2024

In today’s episode, we’re once again joined by Seth Blumsack, Professor of Energy Policy and Economics and International Affairs in the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, to talk about the power grid.

In the past, we’ve spoken to Seth about the history of the power grid and how the power grid fails. In today’s conversation, we discuss how it is governed.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

What makes music sound ‘good’? Jun 10, 2024

Today we're once again joined by Dmitri Tymoczko, Professor of Music at Princeton University. Last time, Dmitri talked about the geometry and patterns we hear in music and its history, particularly from the 1900s onwards.

In this episode, Dmitri delves into some underlying principles that make music sound ‘good’.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

A puzzle, a problem, and a mess May 27, 2024

Gerald Ashley is the Co-founder and Managing Director of St Mawgan & Co, a London-based strategy and risk consulting agency.

In today’s episode, Gerald explores the difference between risk and uncertainty, the challenges of managing them in the financial world, and how it can be powerful to split issues into either puzzles, problems, or messes.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Is complexity economics the answer? May 13, 2024

Nicholas Gruen is the CEO of Lateral Economics, Patron of the Australian Digital Alliance, and a Visiting Professor at Kings College London.

In this episode, Nicholas discusses the limitations of traditional economic models and emphasises the importance of nuanced problem-solving. He advocates for critical thinking and an interdisciplinary approach to decision-making within complex economic systems, and asks if embracing another paradigm, in this case, complexity economics, is really the answer.

Resources and links:

Lateral Economics website

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Making sense of chaos with Doyne Farmer Apr 29, 2024

J. Doyne Farmer is Director of the Complexity Economics programme at the Institute for New Economic Thinking at the Oxford Martin School, Baillie Gifford Professor in the Mathematical Institute at the University of Oxford and an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute.
In this episode, Doyne discusses his journey from chaos theory to complexity economics. He shares his experience developing agent-based models for the economy and talks about the importance of multidisciplinary work and applying complexity science principles to economics and climate change.

Resources:

Purchase ‘Making Sense of Chaos: A Better Economics for a Better World’ here

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Decoding the Panama Papers - Part 2 Apr 15, 2024

Continuing from our last episode, we’re joined again by Brooke Harrington, Professor of Sociology at Dartmouth College and Herbert Chang, Assistant Professor of Quantitative Social Science at Dartmouth College.

In this episode, Brooke and Herbert explore their research findings on the offshore financial system and discuss why policy interventions to date targeting wealth management have largely failed. They then explore how the findings of their research offer a way forward.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Decoding the Panama Papers - Part 1 Apr 01, 2024

In today’s episode, we’re joined by Brooke Harrington, Professor of Sociology at Dartmouth College and Herbert Chang, Assistant Professor of Quantitative Social Science at Dartmouth College, to discuss the world of offshore finance.

You’ll hear about how using offshore finance is akin to eating at a restaurant and skipping out on the bill, and how Brooke trained to be a wealth manager to better understand how the industry works. Brooke and Herbert then discuss how they used the data from the Panama, Paradise and Pandora Papers to undertake quantitative research into the networks that make offshore finance possible.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

How cities drive economic progress Mar 18, 2024

What role do cities play in driving economic progress?

In today’s episode, we’re joined by Luis Bettencourt, Professor at the University of Chicago and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, who explains how cities allow us to do something magical - they allow us to specialise.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Big Ideas: The Origin of Life Mar 04, 2024

How does a group of molecules transition into something that is life? And what do even mean when we say 'life'?

To explore the origin of life, we’re joined again by Sara Walker, Deputy Director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Associate Professor in Earth and Space Exploration and Complex Adaptive Systems at Arizona State University, and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

In conversation with Rory Sutherland - Part 2 Feb 19, 2024

In today’s episode, we continue our conversation with Rory Sutherland, UK Vice Chairman of Ogilvy, where he discusses how our decision making, especially as consumers, while often appearing irrational, is actually the result of us deploying heuristics that have served us well in situations of low trust or when we don't have all the information.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

In conversation with Rory Sutherland - Part 1 Feb 05, 2024

In today’s episode of Simplifying Complexity, we’re joined by Rory Sutherland. Rory is the UK Vice Chairman of the iconic advertising agency (and inspiration for the television series Madmen) Ogilvy, where he has worked for close to 40 years.

In today’s conversation, you’ll hear how Rory became interested in complexity science, how bees build resilience, why short-term rationality can lead to long-term irrationality, and why efficiency is a bad proxy for effectiveness.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The geometry of music Jan 22, 2024

Today we're joined by Dmitri Tymoczko, Professor of Music at Princeton University. Dmitri will talk about the geometry and patterns we hear in music, as well as explore its history, particularly from the 1900s onwards.

Resources:

Spotify playlist of songs mentioned in this episode

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

How can we harness the wisdom of the crowd? Jan 08, 2024

Experts often build models to help predict how systems will behave. But what happens if, instead of asking the experts to build models, we ask laypeople to simply predict outcomes?

This is what happens in 'prediction markets'. And it turns out that in some situations, the 'wisdom of the crowd' often outperforms experts' models.

To break down what prediction markets are and how they work, we're joined by Rajiv Sethi, Professor of Economics at Barnard College at Columbia University and External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Predicting power grid failure Dec 25, 2023

We’ve spoken previously on the show about the complexity of the power grid. Today we’re focusing on how it fails, in the form of blackouts, and we're joined again by Seth Blumsack. He'll discuss why blackouts are so difficult to understand, and whether or not it's possible to model them.

Seth is a Professor of Energy Policy and Economics and International Affairs in the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, co-director of Penn State Center for Energy Law and Policy, and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The Mathematics of War: Part 2 Dec 11, 2023

In our last episode, Neil Johnson explained how there was an underlying power law with a slope of 1.8 that described the number of casualties that occur in wars.

Today’s episode digs deeper into where this power law comes from, the route that Neil's research took to explain it, and how the arrival of the internet finally provided the missing datasets required to understand the underlying structure of something seemingly as chaotic as war.

Neil is Professor of Physics and Head of the Dynamic Online Networks Lab at George Washington University.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The Mathematics of War: Part 1 Nov 27, 2023

When we think of what caused a certain number of people to die in a specific war, we tend to think about a number of factors. for example, the terrain or political drivers. But what if the number of deaths that occur in a war is actually dictated by something far less obvious?

Neil Johnson, Professor of Physics and Head of the Dynamic Online Networks Lab at George Washington University, has returned to explain how studying the casualties of war can give us a greater understanding of the causes of war.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Big Ideas: Time Nov 13, 2023

Throughout the history of science, the concept of time has changed many times - from Newton and thermodynamic definitions to the weirdness of relativity and quantum mechanics. And as our understanding of life and the universe continues to grow, is it again time to reevaluate how we think about time?

To explore this mind-bending idea, we’re joined again by Sara Walker, Deputy Director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Associate Professor in Earth and Space Exploration and Complex Adaptive Systems at Arizona State University, and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Energy markets and the power grid Oct 30, 2023

Hidden in plain sight over our heads, under our feet, and in the walls of our homes and workplaces, is the backbone of modern society: the power grid.

To explain how something as seemingly straightforward as the power grid has become one of the greatest socio-technical systems on the planet, we’re joined by Seth Blumsack, Professor of Energy Policy and Economics and International Affairs in the Department of Energy and Mineral Engineering at Pennsylvania State University, co-director of Penn State Center for Energy Law and Policy, and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

How economic policies are gamed Oct 16, 2023

Economic policies are often gamed by individuals for personal benefit. In this episode, we explore how this gaming takes place and what economics can do about it. To do that, we're joined again by W. Brian Arthur, External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and Researcher at the Palo Alto Research Center, formerly Xerox PARC.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

What makes us creative? Oct 02, 2023

In this series so far, we've applied complexity science to a whole range of systems, particularly those more obvious complex systems like economies or cities. In this episode, we're going to do something a little bit different and apply complexity science to something not so obvious: creativity.

To do that, we're joined again by Tyler Marghetis, Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Information Sciences at the University of California, Merced. Tyler has been on the show before to explore tipping points, and tipping points in jazz music. Today, he wants us to take our traditional approach to what makes someone creative, and pull the camera back. Instead of looking at creativity as what happens inside a person's brain, Tyler wants to explore what happens when we consider creativity through the context of society as a complex, cognitive system.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Cities as social reactors Sep 18, 2023

Today we're joined by Luis Bettencourt, Professor at the University of Chicago, and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. Luis is going to pull apart how cities work, why they work the way they do, what's good about them, and what's bad about them. He's also going to talk specifically about slums, and the challenges that exist in raising people out of poverty.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

How do you map a volcanic plume? Sep 04, 2023

Today, we're going to return to the idea of taking concepts from complexity science and applying them to situations in the real world.

In this episode, we're joined again by Melanie Moses, Professor of Computer Science at the University of New Mexico, and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. She's going to share with us about her recent trip to Iceland to study active volcanoes. More specifically, Melanie is going to explain how you can program a swarm of drones to fly in formation and map the CO2 plume of a volcano.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

How do fireflies synchronise? Aug 21, 2023

Orit Peleg is an Associate Professor at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. Orit has been on the show before, to discuss how bees work as a complex system. In this episode, we're staying within the animal kingdom, as Orit talks to us about fireflies.

In this episode, Orit is going to explain how thousands of fireflies over very significant areas can synchronise their flashing in the night sky. She'll break down the work she has been doing to study this complex system of individual agents and share the lessons we can learn from these fireflies and use them in other applications. For example, what can we learn from these synchronised fireflies that could help us to program a swarm of small robots to work together to lift something?

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

How does a poor kid get ahead? Part 2 Aug 07, 2023

In our last episode, you heard all about economic mobility. In this episode (which is part 2 of our conversation), you're going to hear again from Matthew Jackson, William D. Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University, and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute.

We finished the last episode by saying that if you want to increase a child's economic mobility, the factor that has the greatest impact is economic connectedness. In this episode, Matthew is going to talk about economic connectedness in our workplaces, our religious gatherings, and our schools.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

How does a poor kid get ahead? Part 1 Jul 24, 2023

If you're a child born into a poor family in the United States, what are the most important factors in your life that will influence whether or not you're able to rise out of poverty?

To answer that question, we're joined again by Matthew Jackson, William D. Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University, and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute.

This is part one of a two-part series, and in this episode, Matthew is going to introduce us to a study he was involved in that looked at the data of 21 billion friendships in the US that asked the question: what is it really that allows a child to get ahead?

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The sand pile model Jul 10, 2023

When a system fails, how do you think about cause and effect? One way to consider this in complex systems is to imagine a pile of sand, and dropping one grain of sand at a time in random positions onto the pile. As time passes, you'll start to form little hills. Eventually, a grain of sand will hit one of these hills, and you get an avalanche.

Do you believe that the avalanche was caused by the last grain of sand falling onto it, or do you believe that the avalanche happened due to the shape of the hill itself? To explore this sand pile model, we are joined today by Neil Johnson, Professor of Physics and Head of the Dynamic Online Networks Lab at George Washington University.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Big Ideas: Information Jun 26, 2023

When most of us think about information, we think of it as something we can possess or ‘know’. But what if it’s so much more than that?

In this episode, we’re joined by Sara Walker, Deputy Director of the Beyond Center for Fundamental Concepts in Science, Associate Professor in Earth and Space Exploration and Complex Adaptive Systems at Arizona State University, and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. Sara is going to examine information and the critical role it plays in complex systems.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The El Farol problem Jun 12, 2023

Imagine you have a bar that comfortably seats 60 people, but every week, 100 people have to decide whether or not they're going to go to the bar on any given night. If too many people go, then the bar is too crowded, and everyone has a miserable night. But if not enough people go, then that's a missed opportunity to go out. This is the basis of the El Farol problem, which asks us to consider how people make this decision. It's a beautifully simple problem that not only makes you think but also has profound implications.

To help us through this problem, we're joined again by its inventor, W. Brian Arthur, External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute and Researcher at Palo Alto Research Center. Brian's going to help us understand how this problem is more than just the story of a bar, but a problem that gives us an incredible insight into how the economy works.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The 10 features of complex systems: Part 2 May 29, 2023

In our last episode, we talked about the four conditions of complex systems: numerosity, disorder and diversity, feedback, and non-equilibrium — and we also talked about the concept of emergence. In this episode, which is part two of our two-part series on the features of complex systems, we're joined again by Karoline Wiesner, Professor of Complexity Science in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Potsdam in Germany.

In this episode, Karoline explains the six emergent features of complex systems:

Spontaneous order and self-organisation
Non-linearity
Robustness
Nested structure and modularity
History and memory
Adaptive behaviour

By the time you've finished this episode, you'll understand the underlying principles of complex systems that hold together the wide variety of topics we talk about in this series.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The 10 features of complex systems: Part 1 May 15, 2023

In most of our episodes so far, we've taken a single concept and looked at it through the context of a single example. But in this episode and the next, we're going to pull back the camera to get a bird's-eye view of complexity science, by exploring the features common to all complex systems.

We're joined again by Karoline Wiesner, Professor of Complexity Science in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Potsdam in Germany. In this episode, Karoline is going to explain four conditions that we see in complexity science: numerosity, disorder and diversity, feedback, and non-equilibrium. At the end of the episode, she's going to bring them all together to explain a central concept of complex systems: emergence.

Resources and links:

Karoline’s book ‘What Is a Complex System?’

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Intelligence 2: Is artificial intelligence really intelligent? May 01, 2023

In our last episode we talked all about intelligence, specifically about what made us intelligent. In this episode we jump into artificial intelligence, and we're joined again by David Krakauer, President and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute.

This episode was recorded before the release of GPT-4, so David doesn't mention it specifically, but he does take us through the history of artificial intelligence, from Alan Turing, all the way to machine learning and neural networks. And he's going to ask the question: Are we really building something that's intelligent, or are we just building mimics and parrots?

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Intelligence 1: What makes us intelligent? Apr 17, 2023

With the recent release of GPT-4, now seemed like a good time for our episodes on intelligence. And not just artificial intelligence, but intelligence in general. To help us on this journey, we're joined again by David Krakauer, President and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute.

This episode is part one of our two-part conversation with David about intelligence. In part 2, David is going to cover artificial intelligence. But in this episode, we're going back to basics and David asks, what is it that makes us intelligent?

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

When jazz music tips Apr 03, 2023

If there's one type of music that goes particularly well with complexity science, it's free jazz. The sort of jazz that you get when you put a group of musicians together without a conductor or any written music. But despite this, they still produce incredible music. So how does this group of musicians play so tightly together, whilst creating such dramatic changes to their music?

In this episode, we're joined again by Tyler Marghetis, Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Information Sciences at the University of California, Merced. Tyler is going to return to the concept of tipping points, but this time, he's going to explore tipping points through the context of jazz music. To understand how they occur, he's going to go to one of the most unlikely places for help: the study of ecologies.

Resources and links:

'Zadok the Priest' by Handel - Classical (composed) - This piece tips at 01:22

'Implosion' by Alex Levine Quartet - Free jazz (improvised) - This piece tips between 00:10 to 00:30, and again between 02:20 to 02:40.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Can robots cooperate? Mar 20, 2023

Imagine you were going to Mars with a swarm of robots, and you needed to send those robots out foraging. How would you program them? A traditional top-down approach to programming would mean programming what every single robot is going to do, and that's going to get complicated fast.

So in this episode, we're joined by Melanie Moses, Professor of Computer Science at the University of New Mexico, and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute. Melanie is going to explain how you can take lessons from complexity science, and utilise a bottom-up approach to programming a swarm. In other words, she's going to explain how you can program the robots to interact with one another. And if you thought you'd heard the end of scaling or power laws, then you're in for a surprise, because Melanie is going to share how scaling fits in with her work on getting robots to work as a team.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Scaling 3: Why companies die, but cities don't Mar 06, 2023

In the last few episodes, we learnt all about scaling laws or power laws and how they apply to mammals. In this episode, the final part of our discussion of scaling and complex systems, for now, we're looking even bigger.

We're joined again by Geoffrey West, Shannan Distinguished Professor and Former President of the Santa Fe Institute, who in this episode will be leaving mammals behind to look at other complex systems. In particular, Geoffrey is going to explain how scaling laws apply to cities or companies.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Scaling 2: You and I are fractals Feb 20, 2023

In our last episode, you heard all about the relationship between a mammal's weight and its metabolic rate, and how this holds true regardless of the size of the mammal. You heard other examples of so-called scaling laws, and how these laws seem to be guided by the number four.

In this episode, we're joined again by Geoffrey West, Shannan Distinguished Professor and Former President of the Santa Fe Institute. Geoffrey is going to explain why when we double the size of an animal, we only increase its metabolic rate by three quarters. He's going to explain why the number four is behind these curious laws, and he's going to reveal how you and I are fractals.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Scaling 1: Why do we live longer than mice? Feb 06, 2023

Have you ever thought about why the average human lifespan is 80 years? Or why smaller animals, like mice, live for much shorter periods compared to large animals like blue whales?

To help answer these questions, we're joined by Geoffrey West, Shannan Distinguished Professor and Former President of the Santa Fe Institute. Geoffrey will introduce us to the concept of scaling in complex systems, and how it helps explain not just lifespan, but a whole range of physiological characteristics in mammals.

In Parts 2 and 3, he will explain what creates these laws, and how they apply not just to mammals, but to companies and cities as well.

Resources and links:

Scaling Graphs

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

How do bees self-organise? Jan 23, 2023

One of the things that make complexity science so fascinating is the diversity of the systems that it applies to. In this series so far, you've learnt about everything from ecologies to economies, tipping points in ecologies and economies, to power and influence in the 1400s, and even the spread of coronavirus in the lungs and the thing that brings all of these different topics together is complexity. This means that we can study one system to help us understand other systems — including bees.

In today's episode, Orit Peleg, Faculty at the University of Colorado, Boulder, and External Faculty at the Santa Fe Institute, explains how bees self-organise and produce sophisticated behaviour. In this case, you'll hear how thousands of bees can work out where their queen is at any given point.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The Economy and Complexity Science: Part 2 Jan 09, 2023

In our last episode, we heard from W. Brian Arthur, who shared his journey in economics as he studied increasing returns. Now, Brian's going to take us to 1987, to a small meeting in the Rockies in Santa Fe. At this time, he was struggling to gain recognition for his work within the economics community, but it was when Brian went to what would become the Santa Fe Institute that things really kicked off.

In this episode, you're going to hear again from W. Brain Arthur, External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and Researcher at Palo Alto Research Center, as he remembers the early days of the Santa Fe Institute. From the early meetings of economists, physicists, and a biologist that started it all, to an early model Brian built of a stock market that was unique to any models before it — because this model included booms and busts.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

The Economy and Complexity Science: Part 1 Dec 26, 2022

Mitchell Waldrop's 'Complexity' brought complexity science into the limelight with an account of the early days of the Santa Fe Institute. One of the people who appear in this book is W. Brian Arthur, the engineer turned economist who found economics unsatisfactory — because it treated the economy purely as a system in equilibrium when he knew it very obviously wasn't.

In this episode, you'll hear from W. Brian Arthur, External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute, and Researcher at Palo Alto Research Center, as he explains his journey to understanding the economy as a non-equilibrium system, and his work on increasing returns. But what are increasing returns? Well in complexity terms, it's how positive feedback affects the economy.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Modelling the spread of coronavirus in the lungs Dec 12, 2022

How do you model a complex system? Traditionally we would observe how the system is behaving and create equations to mimic this behaviour, but this doesn't work for complex systems. This is because the interactions between agents in a complex system can significantly impact the system's overall behaviour.

In today's episode, Melanie Moses, Professor of Computer Science at the University of New Mexico, will answer this question. She'll introduce us to agent-based models, which are very different to how we traditionally model systems. More specifically, Melanie will explain how she used agent-based models to understand the spread of coronavirus in the lungs.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

What made the Medici family so influential? Nov 28, 2022

A key part of complexity science is understanding the behaviour of networks. Networks are groups of interacting agents, and they're all around us; our friendship groups, our colleagues, and even interactions online are all examples of networks. But what role does influence and power play in these networks?

In today's episode, we're joined by Matthew Jackson, William D. Eberle Professor of Economics at Stanford University, and External Faculty of the Santa Fe Institute. Matthew is going to break down the key factors of a network, with an example from all the way back in the 1400s, featuring the Medici family. He'll explain how Cosimo de’ Medici used his network to wield power, and what about his network made it so successful.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

What makes ant colonies robust? Nov 14, 2022

In our last episode with Tyler Marghetis, we learnt about how a complex system can tip from one state into another. But what happens when systems don't tip or fail? What makes a system robust?

In today's episode, we're talking with Karoline Wiesner, a Professor of Complexity Science in the Department of Physics and Astronomy at the University of Potsdam, Germany. She breaks down the characteristics of a robust system, through the context of an incredibly robust complex system — the ant colony.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

Can you tell when a system is about to tip? Oct 31, 2022

A fascinating property of a system's behaviour is its ability to change, and change quickly. For example, how does an economy go from boom to bust so suddenly and unpredictably? That is to say, how does it 'tip' from one behaviour to another? What are these tipping points, and are they really as unpredictable as they seem?

In today's episode, we speak to Tyler Marghetis, Assistant Professor of Cognitive and Information Sciences at the University of California Merced. He pulls apart the underlying reasons why the behaviour of a complex system can radically change. He also poses the question, can you tell when a system is about to tip?

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

What is complexity science and why should you care about it? Oct 31, 2022

What is complexity science, and why should you care about it? Well, complexity science is all about understanding the systems that are all around us — systems like the economy, your body, cities, companies, and the environment. To properly understand how these systems work, and how they fail, you need to understand complexity science. Because complexity science provides us with the underlying principles that govern these systems.

In today's episode, we speak to David Krakauer, President and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute. He explains the underlying principles of complex systems and what they have in common — even if they all seem completely unrelated. He also talks through the history of complexity science and provides his top three takeaways on how you can start to think about complex systems.

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This show is produced in collaboration with Wavelength Creative. Visit wavelengthcreative.com for more information.

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