Please distribute this announcement to anyone who might be interested.
You are hereby invited to the first seminar in
our new series on Evolution, Complexity and
Cognition (ECCO).
When?
This Wednesday 10th January, at 2 pm.
Where?
The seminar room is B 0.036 (building B, level 0,
close to the human sciences computer rooms), on
the <http://www.vub.ac.be/english/campEt.html>VUB
Campus Etterbeek. Coffee and drinks are available.
What about?
Carlos Gershenson, Towards Self-organizing Bureaucracies.
This paper proposes self-organization as a method
to improve the efficiency and adaptability of
bureaucracies and similar social systems.
Bureaucracies are described as networks of
agents, where the main design principle is to
reduce local ``friction" to increase local and
global ``satisfaction". Following this principle,
solutions are proposed for improving
communication within bureaucracies, sensing
public satisfaction, dynamic modification of
hierarchies, and contextualization of procedures.
Each of these reduces friction between agents
(internal or external), increasing the efficiency
of bureaucracies. ``Random agent networks"
(RANs), novel computational models, are
introduced to illustrate the benefits of
self-organizing bureaucracies.
Full paper: http://uk.arxiv.org/abs/nlin.AO/0603045
Program for the coming weeks:
17 Jan: Francis Heylighen: Characteristics and
Problems of the Gifted: neural propagation depth
and flow motivation as a model of intelligence
and creativity
24 Jan: Helen de Cruz: Universal Selection Theory
and the Evolution of Mathematics
31 Jan: Clément Vidal: Worldview Construction as a Philosophical Method
7 Feb: Mixel Kiemen: Complex-Adaptive information processing
14 Feb: Wim Christiaens: Apostel's concept of
causality: defining Being by folding "logic" on
"life"
21 Feb: Dirk Kenis: Knowledge Management in
Virtual Communities: opportunities for Agile
Group Decision Support Systems (GDSS)
28 Feb: Erden Göktepe: Mediating International Agents: a Question of Efficiency
Future seminars (date to be fixed soon) :
Jan Bernheim, "A Progressive Evolutionary Worldview"
Klaas Chielens, about evolution of hoax
distribution, memebashing international and the
limits and problems of the memetic paradigm;
Mehmet Tezcan "A complex systems critique to
mainstream IR theory: A case study of foreign
policy integration in Europe as a complex system"
Karin Verelst, topic to be announced
More info about the ECCO seminars:
http://pcp.vub.ac.be:8000/ECCO-web/11
Clément Vidal.
_________________________________
http://clement.vidal.philosophons.com
Evolution, Complexity and Cognition research group,
Free University of Brussels.
Krijgskundestraat 33. B-1160 Brussels, Belgium.
+32 (0) 2 640 67 37
