2023 Science Board & Board of Trustees Symposium on "The Complexity of Knowledge"

In this Symposium we will explore the idea of knowledge both individual and collective. This requires an understanding of its measure, its encoding, its transmission, its acquisition, and its ultimate use in human systems of thought leading to understanding. These questions also extend to those cases where knowledge becomes entrenched and a barrier to progress.
 
Some Key Questions for this Symposium:

• How does knowledge originate and develop in individuals (humans, other primates, etc.)?
• What is the history and development of “objective” / scientific / mathematical knowledge?  
• What is the nature of social and cultural knowledge?  
• What is the role of knowledge in intelligence and in “understanding”? 
• How do today’s large-scale AI language models affect our view of this role? 
• How does the advent of AI and big data affect the role of knowledge and understanding in scientific and mathematical discovery?  
• What sets limits on the time scales and total capacity of individual and collective knowledge acquisition?  
• What are the long-term implications of global and easily accessible sources of knowledge for the future development of the knowledge-understanding axis? 

 

AGENDA

FRIDAY, APRIL 28, 2023 
SITE Santa Fe
1606 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501

12:30 PM to 1:30 PM     Lunch
1:30 PM to 1:50 PM        Dimensions of Knowledge: An Economic View" with Ricardo Hausmann, Harvard University & SFI
1:50 PM to 2:20 PM        "How to Know" with Celeste Kidd, UC Berkeley
2:20 PM to 2:30 PM        Q & A
2:30 PM to 2:45 PM        Respondent: Susan Fitzpatrick, JSMF
2:45 PM to 2:55 PM        Q & A
2:55 PM to 3:20 PM        Break: You are welcome to explore the SITE museum during this time.
3:20 PM to 3:50 PM        "Is Mathematics Obsolete?" with Jeremy Avigad, Carnegie Mellon
3:50 PM to 4:00 PM        Q & A
4:00 PM to 4:15 PM        Respondent: Cris Moore, Santa Fe Institute
4:15 PM to 4:25 PM        Q & A
4:25 PM to 4:45 PM        Group Discussion
5:00 PM to 8:30 PM        Reception & Dinner at Opuntia Café


SATURDAY, APRIL 29, 2023
Symposium Day 2
SITE Santa Fe
1606 Paseo de Peralta
Santa Fe, NM 87501

8:30 AM to 9:15 AM          Breakfast
9:15 AM to 9:30 AM         The Barrier of Meaning with Melanie Mitchell and David Krakauer
9:30 AM to 10:00 AM       "Writing Assistance or PlagAIrism? How Language Models Are Changing Our View of Knowledge" with Anna Rogers, IT University of Copenhagen
10:00 AM to 10:10 AM      Q&A
10:10 AM to 10:25 AM      Respondent: Tom Mitchell, Carnegie Mellon University
10:25 AM to 10:35 AM      Q&A
10:35 AM to 11:00 AM      Break: You are welcome to explore the SITE museum during this time.
11:00 AM to 11:30 AM      "Designing Diversity for Sustained Innovation" with James Evans, University of Chicago & SFI
11:30 AM to 11:40 AM       Q&A
11:40 AM to 11:55 AM       Respondent: Ricardo Hausmann, Harvard University & SFI
11:55 AM to 12:05 PM       Q&A
12:05 PM to 12:15 PM       Group Discussion
12:15 PM to 1:15 PM         Lunch
2:00 PM to 4:00 PM           Science Board Meeting at SFI's Cowan Campus
4:30 PM to 8:30 PM           Reception & Dinner at SFI's Cowan Campus