>From: Pierre_Lemieux@UQAH.UQuebec.CA
>Date: Mon, 14 Aug 95 14:50:12 -0400
>Subject: Complexity, society and liberty

Following is a summary description of a conference I will be 
directing (with my colleague Prof. Alain Albert) on "Complexity, 
Society and Liberty". We are in the preliminary stages of 
organization, but should have a Web site operational in early 
September.

Has any of you done any work in this general field? Anyone 
interested?

Regards,
Pierre Lemieux



International Conference on
Complexity, Society & Liberty / Complexite, Societe et Liberte
Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres
June 11-12, 1996

The objective of the this international conference organized by the 
Universite du Quebec a Trois-Rivieres (UQTR) is to bring together 
an interdisciplinary group of academics and scholars interested in 
the interface between complexity theories, the social sciences, and 
human liberty. This is the second such international and 
interdisciplinary conference organized by the Universite du Quebec, 
after the Chaos & Society Conference held at the Universite du 
Quebec a Hull on June 1-2, 1994.

Research in the "science of complexity" has suggested that society be 
considered as a complex system. While many strands of social 
science research were already of the complex variety, complex-
system theory has led social and other scientists to inquire into how 
exactly the paradigm is applicable to social phenomena, and how the 
complex-system techniques (computer simulations, game theory, 
genetic algorithms, etc.) can be fruitfully used in the study of 
society. The capability of complexologists to develop a general 
theory of the physical and social universe does not seem as 
unquestioned as it recently was. At the same time, institutional 
evolu-tion and history have become more generally accepted in the 
social sciences.

One major question is how social complexity impacts on human 
liberty. In The Road to Serfdom (University of Chicago Press, 
1944), Friedrich Hayek quoted Benito Mussolini as saying that the 
fascists were the first to claim that the a more complex civilization 
implies more restrictions to liberty. Attempts at answering this 
question might help us to understand both the epistemological and 
political significance of social complexity.

The purpose of this conference is to take stock of these questions 
and explore future research avenues. Topics of interest include:
- What is the epistemological significance of complexity theory for 
the social and humane sciences (economics, sociology, political 
science, ethnology, psychology, philosophy ...)?
- To which extent can society be analyzed as a complex system in the 
technical sense? In some other sense closer to traditional social 
methodologies?
- How useful are the endogenous traditions of complexity thinking 
(spontaneous order, evolution, etc.) in the social sciences? How do 
they relate to contemporary complex-system theory?
- How do other models like rational-choice or Public Choice theory 
fit in the complexity picture?
- What is the contribution of complex-system and nonlinear 
techniques to the study of society? How do modern computational 
tools help explain the emergence of complex organizations and 
societies?
- What is the relevance of complexity approaches to contemporary 
social and politi-cal problems? to the basic problem of human 
liberty?
- Is the State (political and bureaucratic processes) a complex 
system? How does it interact with society?