Most interesting phenomena in natural and social systems include constant transitions and oscillations among their various phases. Wars, companies, societies, markets, and humans rarely stay in a stable, predictable state for long. Randomness, power laws, and human behavior ensure that the future is both unknown and challenging. How do events unfold? When do they take hold? Why do some initial events cause an avalanche while others do not? What characterizes these events? What are the thresholds that differentiate a sea change from a non-event?
We are proposing a symposium to explore these and other threshold issues in both the Natural and Social Sciences, using the paradigm of Complex Adaptive Systems. Hosted by the Association for the Advancement of Artificial Intelligence, this symposium will take place in Arlington, VA, November 5-7, 2009. A final determination for approving this event will depend on the amount of interest from the CAS community. Please see this website<http://sites.google.com/site/complexadaptivesystems/Home/symposium-details> for more information; there you will find links to email us if you are interested. (You don't have to commit at this time.) Or you can send any questions or comments you have to Ted Carmichael:teds...@gmail.com ... please put "AAAI_CAS_Symposium" in the subject of your email. Thanks for you time, and I look forward to hearing from you. Sincerely, Ted Carmichael KDD Lab College of Computing and Informatics University of North Carolina in Charlotte
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