Format & Audience

The Symposium & Short Course will be organized around discussion-oriented plenary lectures and debates. Festive evening gatherings will feature posters and whiteboards to present work and discuss new ideas with leading senior researchers. This program will be useful for graduate students, postdocs, and early-career faculty with an interest in collective intelligence research; practitioners and leaders from industry, NGOs, government, and other organizations looking to understand their decision-making structures; and futurists, artists, and writers interested in the role collective intelligence might play in our cultural and biological evolution. 

 

 

Program

The Symposium & Short Course program will be updated as the agenda is finalized, so please make sure to check back regularly.

June 19
DAY 0: Arrival
We will post optional sign-up sheets online for self-organizing dinners. 

June 20
DAY 1: First-Principles Approaches to Collective Intelligence
The first day of the meeting will feature plenary lectures, group discussions, and debates on first-principles thinking in the study of collective intelligence across scales from adaptive matter to cell biology to neuroscience to animal societies to economic systems to artificial intelligence. How do we know our collective intelligence measures are fundamental rather than nominal? How might such measures be rigorously derived from microscopic, individual-level data or using first-principles approaches?

In the evening, there will be an optional festive whiteboard gathering for talking through ideas with symposium faculty and enjoying beautiful views of Santa Fe. Participants are also welcome to attend Andrea Wulf's free Community Lecture at the Historic Lensic Performing Arts Theater at 7:30 pm. 

Breakfast and lunch will be served to all participants. 

June 21
DAY 2: The Nature of Intelligences in Brains, Collectives + AI

The second day of the meeting will feature plenary lectures, group discussions, and a panel discussion on the nature of intelligence in collectives, brains, and artificial systems. What are the most promising measures of intelligence in brains, groups, and AI? How does intelligence scale with other collective properties? What is general intelligence? 

In the evening there will be a poster session party at La Fonda’s lovely rooftop bar with drinks, conversation, and poster presentations on the latest collective intelligence research. The evening will focus on relaxed, small-group discussions where pre-selected participants will have the opportunity to present their research and connect it to the themes of the meeting. The top three posters will be awarded prizes of $1000, $750 and $500. Poster abstract submission guidelines can be found under the “Apply” tab. 

Breakfast and lunch will be served to all participants. 

June 22
DAY 3: Dynamics of Collective Intelligence (morning) + Radical Ideas (afternoon).

On the third day of the meeting we will tackle the dynamics of collective intelligence — what principles underlie group performance when the environment is changing? What measures predict the capacity of a collective to adapt?  

In the evening, we will head to Santa Fe’s Meow Wolf for informal discussion and a final celebration. Round-trip shuttle buses between La Fonda Hotel and Meow Wolf will be provided. 

Breakfast and lunch will be served to all participants

June 23
Day 4: Departure.


 

Optional Evening Activities Information


SFI Community Lecture

The Lensic Performing Arts Center 
211 W. San Francisco Street
Santa Fe, New Mexico 87501

In keeping with the conference’s theme, best selling author of The Invention of Nature: Alexander von Humboldt’s New World, Santa Fe Institute Miller Scholar Andrea Wulf will be giving a lecture on her recently published Magnificent Rebels: The First Romantics and the Invention of the Self. She will discuss her research on the remarkable collection of radicals – brilliant poets, novelists, philosophers, and scientists – who, from a little town in Germany in the 1790s, deeply considered the role of identity and freedom in their own lives, radically revolutionizing thought globally and indelibly. 

One of Santa Fe’s jewels, the recently renovated Lensic offers audiences an intimate space to connect with speakers, performers, and each other. Please contact them directly to learn more about accessibility. 

Photos by Shayla Blatchford and Laura Egley Taylor, respectively

 

Meow Wolf - Final Celebration 

1352 Rufina Cir
Santa Fe, NM 87507

The Collective Intelligence Symposium and Short Course will conclude with a private coctail reception at Meow Wolf, an immersive, multimedia installation constructed by a grassroots collective of local artists, designed to stimulate creativity and imagination. Please contact them directly to learn more about accessibility.

Photos by Kate Russell

 

The Collective Intelligence: Foundations + Radical Ideas Symposium & Short Course is sponsored by the Miller Omega Program, with additional support from the McKinnon Family Foundation and SFI Science.