Past Event: Oden Institute Seminar

Conceiving Complexity: Bridging levels of complex systems and levels of concepts

Reza Negarestani, Director, Critical philosophy programme, New Centre for Research and Practice.

Abstract

This seminar is part of the SIAM Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series.
 
The aim of this presentation is threefold: (1) providing an introduction to the contemporary account of complex systems as multi-level nested hierarchies, and the required engineering principles to work and intervene with such systems; (2) introducing an account of positive conceptualization or conceptual engineering required to describe and express the fine-grained distinctions, the intricate relatedness and the richness of complex systems at each and every level; (3) finally, integrating the multi-level account of complex systems with the explicated concepts adequate to express the distinctions and potencies of complexities in which we are entangled. From the complexity of dynamic structures to the complexity of concepts, and back is the central theme of this presentation

 

(The SIAM Distinguished Speaker Seminar Series aims to host insightful talks by accomplished researchers that expose UT students to new perspectives on math and engineering)

 

Biography

Reza Negarestani is a philosopher. His latest work is Intelligence and Spirit, written at the intersection of German Idealism, Philosophy of Mind, and theoretical computer science. He is currently directing the critical philosophy programme at the New Centre for Research and Practice.