Research themes
From Evo Devo Universe
Below is a current partial list of EDU Research Themes. See also the Special Interest Groups (SIG) below for Groups within which EDU Themes are presently being explored.
Contents |
EDU Research Themes
- Anthropic bias and observer selection effects.
- Anthropic, fine-tuning, and multiverse/ensemble models in cosmology.
- Acceleration studies at the universe and subsystem scales.
- Algorithmic information theory, algorithmic complexity and randomness.
- Astrobiology, Fermi paradox, and SETI.
- Complexity, emergence, ergodicity, and nonlinear science models with organic and computational features.
- Computational and artificial life inspired models and analogies applied at the universe and subsystem scales.
- Cosmology with organic features, such as cosmological natural selection (CNS) and CNS with intelligence (CNS-I).
- Directionality, macrodevelopment, and convergent evolution in biological systems.
- Evolutionary and developmental processes in evo-devo and theoretical biology.
- Evolutionary and developmental processes in non-biological systems (physical, chemical, cultural, technological).
- Hierarchy theory, modularity, and self-organization at the universe and subsystem scales.
- Information theory of evolution and development, intelligence theory at the universe and subsystem scales.
- Network theory, neural networks and scale relativity as a paradigm to explain self-organization of complex networks.
- Non-equilibrium dissipative structures and energy density/efficiency vectors at the universe and subsystem scales.
- Philosophy and systems theory with organic and computational features at the universe and subsystem scales.
- Philosophical and epistemological status of cosmological and speculative theories.
- Probability distributions, power laws, and statistical predictability at the universe and subsystem scales.
- Scale relativity, scale invariance and self-similarity models at the universe and subsystem scales.
- Self-reference, iteration, and recursion models at the universe and subsystem scales.
- Systems models relating physical, chemical, biological(genetics), cultural("memetics"), and technological("technetics") (PCBCT) subsystems
Themes outside the scope of our community:
- Non-naturalistic orthogenesis or teleology, intelligent design, supernaturalism, and theology.
See Conference themes for an incomplete list of potential EDU conference presentation topics and tutorials.
See Questions for more on research questions being considered by the EDU community.
Special Interest Groups (SIGs)
The following primary Special Interest Groups (SIGs) are our top priority for scholar recruiting. Primary SIGs are assigned unique one-letter codes (C-,I-,A-,B-,M-,S-,T-,N- and P-SIGs below), and EDU scholars are encouraged to use up to three of these codes to self-identify their current top research interests. Specialist SIGs may also emerge as groups within any of these nine primary SIGs, if any EDU scholar desires to initiate one and can recruit a minimum of two colleagues with similar interests. All SIG members are encouraged to read and critique each other's papers, and SIGs meet in small group at the conference. If you are willing to lead a SIG at the next EDU conference, please email Clement Vidal.
PHYSICS
- C: Cosmology, High Energy Physics and Astrophysics (Fine Tuning, CNS, Quantum Cosmology, Relativity, Scale Invariance, etc.)
- I: Information Theory, Thermodynamics, and Other Physics (Info Theory, Entropy, Energy Density, etc.)
CHEMISTRY
- A: Astrobiology (Chemistry, Geology, Origin of Life, Extrasolar Planets, etc.)
BIOLOGY
- B: Biological Sciences (Mol/Cell/Org/Pop. Bio, Evol. Bio, Dev. Bio, Evo-Devo, Ecol., Theor. Bio, etc.)
CULTURE
- M: Mind Sciences (Ev. Psych, Dev. Psych, Neuro & Cognitive Science, Ling., Consc. Studies, etc.)
- S: Sociology, Societal Studies, and SETI (Ethics, Culture, Economics, Politics, Astrosociology, etc.)
TECHNOLOGY
- T: Technology Studies, Computer Science, Engineering and AI (Tech, Automation, EE, AI, Robotics, etc.)
TRANSDISCIPINARY
- N: Nonlinear Science, Math and Complexity (Reg. & Nonlinear Math, Quantitative Models)
- P: Philosophy (Sci/Tech, Analytical) and Systems Theory (Evolutionary and Developmental, Qualitative Models)
SIG leaders are encouraged to post descriptions of SIG activity (transcripts, listserves, etc.) on EDU wiki subpages.
