Lecture

Speaker: Robert Spekkens

Dr. Jukka Pekka Onnela of Harvard University discusses how social networks are structured by and interact with cellphone communication patterns. He also outlines his research on how ‘apps’ used in social networking sites influence collective human behaviour and how community detection involves the identification of tightly connected groups of nodes in social networks.

Speaker: W. Brian Arthur

View a recording of this lecture and discussion on the Perimeter Institute website.

In this lecture and discussion at the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics, W. Brian Arthur reviews the thesis of his book The Nature of Technology with Lee Smolin, Frances Westley, and Thomas Homer-Dixon. In his book, Arthur develops a sweeping theory of technological innovation and change.

Professor Marten Scheffer of Wageningen University discusses his research on how to discern generic early-warning signals in complex systems that indicate a critical threshold is approaching. Such research is important because tipping points can cause a sudden shift to a contrasting dynamical regime.

Dr. Steve Purdey of the University of Toronto argues that the emphasis on growth, which has been the focus of the world economy for over 200 years, is no longer sustainable in a world of increasing scarcity. He introduces the concept of steady-state economics (SSE) and highlights some of the socio-economic and political challenges involved in transitioning to a no-growth economic system.

Speaker: Mike Batty

While in the past, systems were often understood as static, controllable, and well-defined, new research reveals that many systems are chaotically dynamic and unclassifiable. In this seminar, Mike Batty of the University College London Centre for Advanced Spatial Analysis explains how these new ideas are increasingly being applied to cities and are changing the ways in which we design and invent urban futures.

Speaker: John McLevey

A recording of the lecture can be found below.