#16 – David Krakauer: Scaling Intelligence

David Krakauer is an American evolutionary biologist. He is the President and William H. Miller Professor of Complex Systems at the Santa Fe Institute. As you will hear in today’s episode, David's research centers around a series of fundamental questions, such as: How did life and intelligence evolve in the universe? How do ideas evolve and how do they encode natural and cultural life?In this conversation, David and I explore the evolving landscape of complexity science. We discuss its foundational theories, emerging patterns, and intersections with AI and machine learning. We delve into the paradigm shift complexity science represents, its most significant contributions across disciplines, and how computational advances are reshaping its trajectory. We also talk about AI’s potential to scale towards AGI through a complexity lens, the limits imposed by evolutionary principles, and what this means for artificial systems. Finally, as President of the Santa Fe Institute, David discusses SFI’s unique interdisciplinary model. I hope you enjoy the conversation.You can follow me on X (@ProfSchrepel) and BlueSky (@ProfSchrepel) to receive regular updates.References: Unifying complexity science and machine learning (2023) https://www.frontiersin.org/journals/complex-systems/articles/10.3389/fcpxs.2023.1235202/full The debate over understanding in AI’s large language models (2023) https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f29a430a2b6a34680879cc0/t/672467763ec35e0639db8457/1730439030537/DK-DebateOverUnderstandingInAIsLLMs2023.pdf Darwinian demons, evolutionary complexity, and information maximization (2011) https://static1.squarespace.com/static/5f29a430a2b6a34680879cc0/t/6725792b7d0d4f0e4e7ca2fe/1730509104265/DK-DarwinianDemonsEvolutionaryComplexity%26InformationMaximization2011.pdf

Om Podcasten

Scaling Theory is a podcast dedicated to the power laws behind the growth of companies, technologies, legal and living systems. The host, Dr. Thibault Schrepel, has a PhD in antitrust law and looks at the regulation of digital ecosystems through the lens of complexity theory. The podcast is hosted by the Network Law Review. It features scholarly discussions with select guests and deep dives into the academic literature.