[alife] Invitation to contribute to the ISAL Special Session on ALife and Society at ALIFE XV

[a.penn at surrey.ac.uk]

Join the Conversation Today: Invitation to Contribute!
ISAL: Special Session on ALife and Society
At the Fifteenth International Conference on the Synthesis and Simulation of Living Systems (ALIFE XV<http://alife2016.alife.org>) Cancún, Mexico 2016
Tuesday July 5th, 14:30-19:00
Organisers: Dr Alexandra Penn, Prof. Mark Bedau, Prof. Steen Rasmussen

As part of this society-themed conference, the International Society for Artificial Life has organised a special session on Artificial Life and its societal impact. We will survey the state of the field with a collection of submitted and invited talks, collaboratively set out the "Grand Challenges", and forge the agenda for the way ahead.

We are taking this opportunity to collate ideas on our technologies and approaches and their possible societal contributions and impact with an interactive and challenging special session. We start with a diverse programme of talks presenting new perspectives on this broad theme. Speakers will act as provocateurs, suggesting new approaches, highlighting challenges and opportunities and asking key questions. This will be followed by extensive group discussion, framing the key issues and challenges for the field and initiating working groups on practical projects to take forward our agenda. Groups will meet during the conference itself to take ideas forward and maximise community momentum. We will report back and set out our next steps for action at the end of the conference.

To maximise the session's productivity, we are starting the conversation now and we'd love to have your input. Please use the links below to start suggesting and discussing what you think are the most important challenges in the ALife and society agenda and to propose practical actions which we could start to work on as a community.

Join the conversation now:

What are the grand challenges for ALife's societal impact?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1r6l86_nfiqtKykKTtDEaGBQi28G1_adOd_s7zz0j-A4/edit?usp=sharing

What practical initiatives can we set up to address these challenges?

https://docs.google.com/document/d/1Ld7e4puB3E9gHd7mRiXXRkIgFqeyN7fRVbeOp7KrgSg/edit?usp=sharing


Dr Alexandra Penn FRSA
Member of Board of Directors, Chair for Societal Impact, International Society for Artificial Life
Senior Research Fellow: CECAN Centre for Evaluation of Complexity Across the Nexus;
ERIE Evolution and Resilience of Industrial Ecosystems Project
Centre for Environmental Strategy/Dept of Sociology,
36BC02
University of Surrey,
Guildford, Surrey, GU2 7XH

T: +44 (0)1483 683616 M: +44 (0)7811 443038
Skype: Alexsiobpenn
Twitter: @DrAlexPenn