Please distribute to others who may be interested... You are hereby invited to a seminar in our tenth interdisciplinary series on Evolution, Complexity and Cognition <http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/108> (ECCO 2014-201)
Time: Friday October 3, 14h-16h Place: *room **D.3.10 * ------------------------------ Niklas Luhmann's Social Systems: First Posthuman Cognizing Species on Earth? Marta Lenartowicz <https://vub.academia.edu/MartaLenartowicz> (ECCO,GBI) Abstract: The very top position of the evolutionary ladder is – in most approaches – still being awarded to the individual human being. Social systems, which assemble humans in a way similar to that of multicellular organisms, seem somewhat incomplete to be considered a next grand achievement of evolution. They appear to be missing clear-cut boundaries that could provide an autopoietic operational closure, allowing them to exist as autonomous, resilient beings. Search for a potential new ‘Crown of Creation’ has, thus, turned somewhere else: towards the only human-based system that not only does posses a truly unambiguous boundary, but is also being currently witnessed to undergo a rapid increase of its internal complexity. This emerging entity has been called ‘the Global Brain’. Meanwhile, however, another systems-evolutionary theory has been formulated, which presents social systems in a radically new light. It’s author, Niklas Luhmann, claims that contemporary social systems can be best understood if described as truly posthuman, – i.e. systems, for which human beings are merely environmental resources, not constituents. Such a view allows for a quite clear identification of their autopoietic boundaries, yet does not place them in any physical (spatiotemporal) dimension. Luhmannian Social systems reside within the sphere of meanings and sustain themselves through distinction-making cognitive operations embedded in human communication. The aim of my talk is to attempt an integration of that view into the theoretical framework developed by the GB thinkers. In that respect, two major points will be discussed. First, that Luhmann’s taxonomy reveals yet another class of systems whose potential for suboptimization of GB should not be underestimated. Second, even more interestingly, that – if, indeed, the top of the ‘ladder’ has been unnoticeably taken already – some of most interesting dynamics of the next metasystem transition will be taking place just between these two: the GB and the Luhmannian social systems. ------------------------------ Upcoming Seminars *Oct. 10 * Kris Verburgh *Aging and nutrition - The role of nutrition and the aging process, aging-related diseases and obesity* *Oct. 17 * TBA *Oct. 24 * Lotzi Bölöni *An autobiographical approach to cognition* *Oct. 31 * TBA *Nov. 7 * TBA *Nov. 14 * Lotte van Lith *Nov. 21 * Ivo Velitchkov *Requisite Inefficiency* *Nov. 28* Jerome C. Glenn *Collective Intelligence Systems: Two Applications: Global Futures System and the Egyptian Integrated Synergistic Information System* *Dec. 5 * Petter Braathen *Linking Complexity Science and Strategic Management* *Dec. 12 * Ben Collins *The Internet of Places/ The Future of Brands* *Dec. 19 * Jeanne Dietsch *Interactions of emotion, rationality, faith and institutions on the outcomes of trust* See also the ECCO/GBI calendar <https://www.google.com/calendar/embed?src=azMyN252aWluM2JoMnU3MXY5OGt2ZzliOGdAZ3JvdXAuY2FsZW5kYXIuZ29vZ2xlLmNvbQ> . You can add this calendar to your calendar application through here <https://www.google.com/calendar/ical/k327nviin3bh2u71v98kvg9b8g%40group.calendar.google.com/public/basic.ics> More info about the ECCO seminar program: http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/108 -- Evo Evo Busseniers - Seminar Coordinator ECCO Group (VUB) <http://ecco.vub.ac.be/?q=node/1> Email: [email protected] Website: http://vub.academia.edu/EvoBusseniers <http://be.linkedin.com/in/weaver9/>
