News

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INTERDISCIPLINARY COLLEGE 2016 SPRING SCHOOL:
Transitions and Transformations in Cognition,
Biology and Interactive Systems

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Dates: March 4-11, 2016

Location: Günne at Lake Möhne, Germany

Website: http://www.interdisciplinary-college.de



=== THE SCHOOL ===

The Interdisciplinary College (IK) is an intense annual one-week spring 
school, offering a dense state-of-the-art program in neurobiology, 
neural computation, cognitive science and psychology, artificial 
intelligence, robotics and philosophy. It provides a unique training 
opportunity for students, postgraduates and researchers, from academia 
and industry. The courses and discussions combine perspectives from the 
sciences and technology with those from philosophy and the humanities, 
to promote dialogue and connectedness between the various disciplines. 
The IK courses are taught by top lecturers from all over the world; all 
courses are offered in English. The course sequence begins with 
introductory lectures on the main fields of the IK, followed by a series 
of in-depth lectures on the focus topics for each year. Each year’s 
program also includes special lectures, which connect between focal 
topics and the arts, including music, collective movement and dance.



=== THE FOCAL TOPIC: TRANSITIONS AND TRANSFORMATIONS IN COGNITION, 
BIOLOGY AND INTERACTIVE SYSTEMS ===

Both biological and artificial systems are built around collections of 
individual units, which create a network of interacting parts. In these 
dynamically interacting environments, the system as a whole becomes more 
than the sum of its parts. Such systems often undergo transitions and 
transformations, defining changes in the fundamental character of that 
entity. Organisms undergo natural processes of change linked to age and 
development, as they grow from juvenile to adult, and continue into 
seniority. Neural and cognitive processes also dynamically change across 
different time scales, as we age and as we respond to the immediate 
world around us. Transitional and transformational processes 
additionally occur on across levels of organization, from the 
self-organization of cells and the emergence of life; to the 
transformations of groups of individuals into cooperative societies; 
from groups of cells into multicellularity. These transformations are 
fundamental to how biological systems are defined.

In parallel with the natural world, artificial systems also act and 
interact over different time scales, and across levels of complexity. To 
function in real world environments, artificial systems (like natural 
systems) must adapt to change. The Interdisciplinary College 2016 will 
consider Transitions and Transformations in Cognition, Biology and 
Interactive Systems from diverse perspectives across the natural and AI 
worlds.

The taught courses will present research insights and discussion to 
address questions such as:

- When does a group of cells become an organism, or a group of organisms 
become a society?
- Can artificial systems of collective subunits self-organize into a 
group with defined purpose?
- How do natural systems survive and adapt to changing external 
environments?
- What do we need to capture from a computing perspective to duplicate 
natural transformations?
- How do humans change in individual and social function as they age?
- What processes drive cell growth, death, and cooperation, during 
organismal or neural development?
- Can cancer cells cheat cooperation and death to become immortal?
- How do social groups change through life and into death, and can 
groups become immortal?


=== Registration Deadlines ===

Early-bird registration deadline: January 9, 2016
Regular registration deadline: February 14, 2016

Registration website: http://www.interdisciplinary-college.de/registration