Is There a Physics of Society? January 10-12, 2008, Santa Fe NM
Organizers: Michelle Girvan (University of Maryland) and Aaron Clauset (Santa Fe Institute)
Agenda: Thursday Friday Saturday
Wednesday, January 9, 2008
- 7:00pm - 9:00pm Welcome reception (Hotel Santa Fe)
Thursday, January 10, 2008
- 8:30am - 9:00 Introductory remarks
- Session One, led by Michael Fisher (homepage)
- 9:00 - 9:40 Mark Buchanan (abstract, homepage)
- Prospects for "social physics"
- 9:50 - 10:30 D. Eric Smith (abstract, homepage)
- Good social science as good physics?
- 10:40 - 11:00 Break
- 11:00 - 11:40 Rob Axtell (abstract, homepage)
- Interacting Particles vs. Interacting Agents: Where is the Cut-off?
- 11:50 - 12:30 Discussion
- 12:30 - 1:30 Lunch
- Session Two, led by Matthew Salganik (homepage)
- 1:30 - 2:10 John M. Roberts Jr. (abstract, homepage)
- Examining the modern history of interaction between social science and physics
- 2:20 - 3:00 Lars-Erik Cederman (abstract, homepage)
- Toward a non-equilibrium approach to political violence
- 3:10 - 3:30 Break
- 3:30 - 4:10 Frank Schweitzer (abstract, homepage)
- Enhancing social interaction: preferences, similarities, and trust
- 4:20 - 5:00 Discussion
- 7:00pm Dinner (Coyote Cafe)
Friday, January 11, 2008
- 8:55am - 9:00 Introductory remarks
- Session Three, led by Cosma Shalizi (homepage)
- 9:00 - 9:40 Luis Bettencourt (abstract, homepage)
- Elements of a coarse-grained quantitative theory of Society: Physics perhaps, but like you’ve never seen it before
- 9:50 - 10:30 David Gibson (abstract, homepage)
- Events and Their Aftermath
- 10:40 - 11:00 Break
- 11:00 - 11:40 Matthew Salganik (abstract, homepage)
- The puzzling nature of success in cultural markets
- 11:50 - 12:30 Discussion
- 12:30 - 1:30 Lunch
- Session Four, led by Luis Bettencourt (homepage)
- 1:30 - 2:10 Dirk Brockmann (abstract, homepage)
- New Perspectives on Global Human Traffic: Scaling Laws, Emergent Geographic Communities, Geocaching and Trackable Items
- 2:20 - 3:00 Michael Gastner (abstract, homepage)
- The Price of Anarchy in Transportation Networks
- 3:10 - 3:30 Break
- 3:30 - 4:10 Matthew O. Jackson (abstract, homepage)
- An Economic Model of Friendships: Understanding the Roles of Choice and Chance in Social Network Formation
- 4:20 - 5:00pm Discussion
Saturday, January 12, 2008
- 8:55am - 9:00 Introductory remarks
- Session Five, led by Michelle and Aaron
- 9:00 - 9:40 Dirk Helbing (abstract, homepage)
- Modeling and Simulating Social Systems from the Bottom Up
- 9:50 - 10:30 Mark Handcock (abstract, homepage)
- A Longitudinal Model of Network Formation: Heider's theory of Balance vs Simmel's triadic formation
- 10:40 - 11:00 Break
- 11:00 - 11:40 Petter Holme (abstract, homepage)
- Simple models of teens, diplomats, religious cults and more
- 11:50 - 12:30 Discussion
- 12:30 - 1:30 Lunch
- Session Six, led by Rob Axtell (homepage)
- 1:30 - 2:10 Cosma Shalizi (abstract, homepage)
- Why Oh Why Can't We Have a Better Econophysics?
- 2:20 - 3:00 Doyne Farmer (abstract, homepage)
- 3:10 - 3:30 Break
- 3:30 - 4:10 Carter Butts (abstract, homepage)
- Is There a Viable Social Physics? Yes, No, and In Part
- 4:20 - 5:00 Discussion
- 5:00pm Concluding remarks
