Madison Chaos and Complex
Systems Discussion Group
2025 Discussions
The Chaos and Complex Systems Seminar has morphed into an informal
discussion group following the pattern of earlier summers.
Each week, we have an assigned topic, a facilitator, and a
web-accessible reading or video. The reading or video should take no
more than 20 minutes, and the facilitator should be prepared to give
at most a 5-minute introduction to the topic and lead the ensuing
discussion. All discussions are Tuesday noon at the Memorial Union
(on the Terrace under the big tree in the summer, otherwise
indoors as announced in Today
in the Union posted at the building entrance). Anyone
interested in facilitating or suggesting a topic should contact Peter
Sobol. To receive weekly announcements, chaos-cs+subscribe@g-groups.wisc.edu
- Jan 15, 2025: The
origin of religion
- Jan 21, 2025: Is
math invented or discovered?
- Jan 28, 2025: Dealing
with denialism
- Feb 04, 2025: Artificial
Intelligence safety and unpredictability
- Feb 11, 2025: Masculinity according to Josh
Hawley and Tucker
Carlson
- Feb 18, 2025: Do
options make us free?
- Feb 25, 2025: The
roots of supernaturalism
- Mar 04, 2025: Artificial
intelligence rights and animal
consciousness
- Mar 11, 2025: Relationship
between thought and language
- Mar 18, 2025: The
Mahmoud Khalil case
- Mar 25, 2025: Participation
of trans women in sports
- Apr 01, 2025: Parapsychology
- Apr 08, 2025: A
Theory of Media That Explains 15 Years of Politics
- Apr 15, 2025: Mammoths
resurrected and other thoughts by Stewart Brand
- Apr 22, 2025: How
art stimulates your brain to make it better
- Apr 29, 2025: AI in bostatistics
and medical informatics
- May 06, 2025: What
is art?
- May 13, 2025: Why
everything in the Universe turns more complex
- May 20, 2025: Inexpensive
flying cars from China
- May 27, 2025: Is
science education in trouble?
- Jun 03, 2025: Possible
futures: The good, the bad, and the ugly
- Jun 10, 2025: Why Caspar David
Friedrich’s ’Wanderer’ is a failed painting
- Jun 17, 2025: Drone
warfare
- Jun 24, 2025: Federal funding of
R&D and implications
for UW-Madison
- Jul 01, 2025: Interview
of Peter Thiel
- Jul 08, 2025: The
real costs of research funding cuts
- Jul 15, 2025: What does Rembrandt have
to do with chaos and complexity?
- Jul 22, 2025: How
can we avert future wars?
- Jul 29, 2025: New approaches to religion,
science, and technology
- Aug 05, 2025: What
is wisdom and how do we judge it?
- Aug 12, 2025: Agentic
artificial intelligence