[alife] 1st CfP: Workshop on the Evolution of Complexity at ALife X

[Carlos Gershenson]

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CALL FOR PAPERS

Workshop on the Evolution of Complexity
June 3rd, 2006, Bloomington, IN, USA
http://ecco.vub.ac.be/ECO/

as a part of the Tenth International Conference on the Simulation and  
Synthesis of Living Systems: ALife X
http://www.alifex.org


Motivation

The evolution of complexity is a central theme in Biology. Yet it is  
not without any ambiguity. Complexity has been used to refer to  
different things. For instance, complexification has been interpreted  
as a process of diversification between evolving units or as a  
scaling process that is related to the idea of transitions between  
different levels of complexity. Other meanings of complexity have  
been introduced, both inside and outside the realm of Biology. What  
concerns most researchers is to get insight into the mechanisms that  
produce their notion of complexity.

The focus of this workshop will be on biological interpretations of  
complexity and the driving mechanisms: primarily we want the focus to  
be on evolutionary and related dynamics as mechanisms for producing  
complexity. Furthermore, we want to bring together historical and  
novel research in this context.

Questions to be addressed at the workshop include:
- - What are the environmental constraints of complexity growth in  
living systems?
- - What is the origin and role of developmental mechanisms in  
evolution?
- - Are the principles of natural selection, as they are currently  
understood, sufficient to explain the evolution of complexity?
- - What are the limits at different levels to the evolution of  
complexity, and which conditions could reduce evolved complexity?
- - <Which models are | What language is> more appropriate to  
<understand | speak about> the evolution of complexity in living  
systems?
- - How could complexity growth be measured or operationalised in  
natural and artificial systems?
- - How can data from nature be brought to bear on the study of this  
issue?
- - What are the main hypotheses about complexity growth that can  
actually be tested?
- - Is it possible to <direct|manipulate> the evolution of  
complexity, or which benefits would bring its understanding?

Paper submission:

Submitted papers should follow the format guidelines for the ALife X  
proceedings (http://www.alifex.org/submissions/ ). Papers should not  
exceed 6 pages in length.
Submissions will be made electronically at the workshop website.

Important dates:

Submission deadline: February 28th, 2006
Notification of acceptance: April 1st, 2006
Camera-ready papers due: April 15th, 2006
Workshop date: June 3rd, 2006

Workshop Structure:

The workshop will take place in Bloomington, IN, USA, on June 3,  
2006, the first day of the conference. The aim is to have 2-4 invited  
speakers, and talks by the authors of groundbreaking contributions.  
We feel that it is important to have a discussion on the  
presentations and submissions at a workshop and hence will introduce  
a workshop format that achieves this goal.

Invited speakers (* indicates confirmed):
Mark Bedau*
Jim Crutchfield*
Stuart Kauffman
Ricard Solé

Proceedings:

Workshop proceedings will be published in a special volume  
distributed at the conference. (This volume will be different from  
the MIT press conference proceedings). Depending on the quality of  
submissions, a special issue of the Artificial Life journal may be  
created.

Programme Committee:

Lee Altenberg
Mark Bedau
Dominique Chu
Jim Crutchfield
Bruce Edmonds
Carlos Gershenson
Franics Heylighen
Tom Lenaerts
Juan Julián Merelo
Barry McMullin
Melanie Mitchell
Jorge Pacheco
Tom Ray
Jon Rowe
Stanley Salthe
Cosma Shalizi
Peter Schuster
Eörs Szathmáry
Richard Watson

Organising Committee:

Carlos Gershenson
Centrum Leo Apostel, Vrije Universiteit Brussel
Krijgskundestraat 33. B-1160, Brussels, Belgium
cgershen at vub.ac.be

Tom Lenaerts
IRIDIA CP 194/6, Université Libre de Bruxelles
Av. Franklin Roosevelt 50. B-1050, Brussels, Belgium
tlenaert at ulb.ac.be

Websites:

Workshop: http://ecco.vub.ac.be/ECO/

Conference: http://www.alifex.org