Earlier this month, Georgia Meyer, a PhD candidate in Information Systems and Innovation at the Department of Management at LSE, spent two weeks in Bogotá for the third edition of the Santa Fe Institute’s (SFI) Complexity Global School for emerging political economies. Here she shares her experience of the programme and encourages others who might be interested in applying to attend in future years to do so.
It began on Monday 28 July when around 60 participants from across the world sat down at their desks in a large classroom at the Universidad de los Andes, ready to be immersed in the latest techniques and theory from complexity science, applied to subjects of societal importance – inequalities in particular.
Our cohort varied enormously in terms of skill sets, countries of origin, first languages (native English speakers still *ahem* at a rather unfair advantage), institutional homes, professional experiences and hobbies. But we shared a willingness to learn, curiosity about ideas, openness to one another and a drive to think through hard questions together. As it turns out, most of us really liked a dance floor too. This is a short summary of a stimulating time – aimed to encourage you to apply next year.
A thorough preparation
The programme began before we even arrived in Bogotá via the SFI’s online learning and collaboration platform where we were directed to a menu of pre-recorded lectures, covering everything from Agent-Based Models, Network Science, Scaling Theory and Game Theory. For some, these videos were a refresher of material they were already familiar with. For others, they were a useful but hefty introduction to new methods and theory. Pitching content at the right level for a highly interdisciplinary group will never be straightforward.
Of the pre-recorded videos, I particularly enjoyed three ‘Aperitifs’, introduced by Will Tracy (VP for Applied Complexity), recorded at the SFI’s 40-year anniversary. An intellectual tour de force of the various strands of thinking that have evolved over the past century and a half to converge loosely around this field known as ‘complexity science’. While these lectures partially indicated the fact that there is, of course, still some quibbling over a precise definition of the field, it is fair to point to the following as the mean definition of, in the first instance, a complex system – as a system composed of many interconnected parts whose interactions give rise to emergent collective behaviour; behaviour whose nature can’t be inferred from the properties of these individual components.
The various tools applied to understanding these systems are drawn from four distinct intellectual histories:
- Computation and logic;
- Dynamics and control;
- Evolution and learning;
- Thermodynamics and statistical mechanics
The potted histories of these (even, perhaps especially, for a non-expert) engender analeptic wonder, respect and appreciation. On this front many participants had another thing in common: the addiction to stimulation from ideas. Of all the addictions one could have, it’s a pretty good ‘poison’ to pick – even if Bogotá’s altitude exaggerated the high a touch beyond comfort at times. For a little more on the history of the institute itself and the nature of emergence (as one aspect of the phenomena its faculty study) see this recent episode of Neil deGrasse Tyson’s podcast with SFI President David Krakauer. The institute also has its own podcast series.
Work hard
Back to Bogotá. Each day began with breakfast (Mango! Pawpaw! Watermelon! Arepas! Omelette! Fresh Mandarin Juice!) at 0800 with lectures, panels or presentations starting at 0900. Thoughtful and repeated curation of mini work meant that soon enough everyone had said hello to everyone else. A cryptic clue fuelled tour of Uni Andes ensured we encountered key university landmarks, including: a statue of Saint Albertus the Great (1206-1280). The comforting presence of their ‘beloved El Bobo’, patron saint of natural sciences, graces both Uni Andes and the University of Cologne – in identical statues by Bauhaus Master Gerhard Marcks. El Bobo: apt symbol for an institution of science enfolded by the land of Magical Realism.
In between small group tasks (e.g. respond to prompts like: ‘Stars discuss the minimum wage’, or, design community guidelines for a decentralised and open source online community) there were daily 1.5 hour salons with a range of SFI and Universidad de los Andes faculty. In these sessions deeper questions could be asked of the pre-recorded lectures, the faculty members’ wider research agendas and feedback received where participants were bringing their own work to the table. What made this heterogeneity work was the fact that, regardless of professional background and expertise, everyone was keen to understand what different people could bring to the table. We all wanted to learn from one another.
Topics covered included things like:
- how different kinds of cities shape patterns of implicit bias (Andrew Stier);
- how scaling laws and fractals are enabling predictions of the structure of entire forests – with applications for ecology and climate science (Chris Kempes);
- how a new metric (Mean Conditional Heterogeneity) can indicate how unequally a resource is distributed in a geographically nested space (Christa Brelsford);
- the relationship between moral language and political participation (Cristian Candia);
- the relationships between the nature and frequency of interactions at interdisciplinary conferences and likelihood for forming collaboration (Emma Zajdela);
- and, all manner of questions related to how the structure of networks affect outcomes in, e.g. in social mobility, trade, and bank transactions.
There were also a number of panels, on inequality, on disinformation and on scaling and game theory with contributions from a range of SFI and non-SFI faculty including Professor Bill Rand, Professor Rajiv Sethi, Professor Luis Bettencourt, Dr Michael Ralph, Dr Hyejin Youn and Dr Reynaldo Ortiz-Minaya.
Play hard
The generosity, inquisitiveness and collegiality of all participating faculty cannot be overstated. Time and again I heard of participants receiving detailed feedback during ad hoc one-on-one sessions and regularly experienced this expertise osmosis first hand during these sessions. These deeper discussions often continued at one of many faculty dinners which took place on most evenings. Like the salons, these more intimate dinners were opportunities for smaller groups to learn more about each other’s research interests and work through the application of complexity tools across various contexts. Over amazing food. And though we were in Colombia, for me, the Peruvian cuisine (perhaps predictably) came out tops. Ceviche and pisco sours – can’t go wrong. Can’t say the sours helped with the salsa though (or did they?!).
Besides the fun there were of course some serious matters at hand. Discussions of science at a time of marked political polarisation and uncertainty were frequent, and formalised at a public event – the substance of which is summarised in SFI Professor Brandon Ogbunu’s recent blog on metascience. These discussions reminded of the strain that much of the scientific community is under and the thoughtful, incisive interjections of both Brandon and collaborator Dr Joseph Bak-Coleman were some reassurance that sound stewardship remains, however difficult their circumstances increasingly are.
Bogotá style
If this isn’t enough to persuade you to apply for next year’s School, then perhaps you have a different addiction. Oh, and, the school is entirely funded: flights, accommodation, meal cards, per diem and catering (and the faculty dinners) and generously funded by SFI and the Omidyar Network. Every step is taken to ensure that participation is as accessible as possible. Truly, a remarkable experience and act of generosity from the kinds of people, who over many centuries, have understood the importance of funding science – and fostering collaboration. A tradition worth maintaining – we may need it more than ever.
- This blog post represents the views of its author(s), not the position of the London School of Economics and Political Science Department of Management.
- Find out more about research degrees at the Department of Management at LSE.
The post Work Hard, Play Hard, Bogotá Style: A Download on the SFI’s Complexity Global School first appeared on LSE Management.
