Regensburg 2022 – scientific programme

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PLV: Plenarvorträge

PLV IX

PLV IX: Plenary Talk

Thursday, September 8, 2022, 14:00–14:45, H1

Evolutionary transitions: universality, complexity and predictability — •Ricard Sole — Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain — Santa Fe Institute, Santa Fe, USA

The evolution of life in our biosphere has been marked by several major innovations. Such major complexity shifts include the origin of cells, genetic codes or multicellularity to the emergence of language, cognition or even consciousness. Understanding the nature and conditions for evolutionary innovation is a major challenge for evolutionary biology. Along with data analysis, phylogenetic studies and dedicated experimental work, theoretical and computational studies are an essential part of this exploration. With the rise of synthetic biology, evolutionary robotics, artificial life and advanced simulations, novel perspectives to these problems have led to an emerging new synthesis, where evolutionary innovations can be understood in terms of phase transitions, as defined in physics. Such mapping (if correct) would help in defining a general framework to establish a theory of evolutionary change and the role played by chance and constraints in shaping living complexity.