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DySoC/NIMBioS Seminar Series
DySoC and NIMBioS are hosting a series of seminars on topics related to social complexity. Monthly seminars will be held at NIMBioS in Room 206, Claxton Building, 1122 Volunteer Blvd. Light refreshments will be served in Room 205 beginning 30 minutes before each talk. Faculty and students from across the UT community are welcome to join us.
Watch recorded seminar online.
Speaker: Dr. Sergey Gavrilets, EEB, Mathematics, NIMBioS, UTK; DySoC Director; Anthropology, Oxford Univ.
Time/Date: Monday, October 15, 2018, 3:30 p.m.*
Location: Room 206, Claxton Building, 1122 Volunteer Blvd.
Topic: Modeling the evolutionary origins and dynamics of social complexity
Abstract:
It is now well recognized that understanding modern human behavior, psychology, culture, and certain economic and political processes is hardly possible without also considering factors and processes that were shaping our recent evolution. Deciphering the problems of human origins and subsequent social and cultural evolution requires a concerted effort of researchers from a diverse set of disciplines including biology, anthropology, psychology, economics, and history as well as mathematics and computational science. If we, as scientists, are successful in this endeavor, the societal impact will be enormous. I will illustrate some of my recent modeling work in this area. I will consider the collective action problem in heterogeneous groups, effects of identify fusion on self-sacrifice, the evolution of social norm internalization, and the joint dynamics of power inequality and cooperation.
Dr. Sergey Gavrilets is the Director of the Center for the Dynamics of Social Complexity (DySoC) and a Distinguished Professor of Ecology & Evolutionary Biology and Mathematics at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville. He is also the Associate Director for Scientific Activities at NIMBioS. A leading researcher in theoretical and computational evolutionary biology, Gavrilets uses mathematical models to study complex evolutionary processes. In recent years, his research interests have mostly concentrated on human origins and the evolution of social complexity, major evolutionary transitions, speciation and adaptive radiation, sexual conflict, and holey fitness landscapes. Gavrilets received his PhD in Physics and Mathematics from Moscow State University in 1987 and joined the UT faculty in 1995.
*Join us for refreshments at 3 p.m.
Seminar Flyer (pdf)
For more information about this and other NIMBioS Seminars, visit /announcements/seminars.
NIMBioS
1122 Volunteer Blvd., Suite 106
University of Tennessee
Knoxville,
TN 37996-3410
PH: (865) 974-9334
FAX: (865) 974-9461
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