
Science & Cocktails: Liquid brains and mapping the cognitive space
Science & Cocktails: Liquid brains and mapping the cognitive space
Tuesday 18 February
In Tolhuistuin - Club
Zaal open: 19:00, Voorprogramma: 19:30, Hoofdprogramma: 20:30
Lidmaatschap niet verplicht
Lidmaatschap niet verplicht
- Programma half zittend, half staand
Science & Cocktails is a series of public talks by scientists with live music and smoky dry-ice chilled cocktails in your hand.
19:00 doors open for cocktails
19:30 band (live)
20:30 Ricard Sole (talk)
Event in English, semi-seated.
Be the first to know when the next Science & Cocktails Amsterdam event(s) will take place by subscribing to our newsletter.
Brains are costly so why did brains develop? Is intelligence a universal property of living matter? Is human intelligence singular? Can we evolve other kinds of minds using artificial life models?
We live on a planet filled with life, where very diverse intelligences have emerged, from cells and ants to octopi and humans. With such diversity comes a wide range of brains and minds that living systems use to explore and sense their worlds. Moreover, cognition takes place in nature in two major classes of architecture, which we can roughly classify as "solid" (the standard, synaptic connectivity picture) versus those that are performed by "liquid" networks, such as the immune system or ant colonies. Why is that? This talk explores what constitutes a “brain”, how complex brains evolved, what differences and commonalities span living brains, and how we might build a space for possible new minds, from synthetic biology to artificial intelligence.
This event is an initiative by the Dutch Institute for Emergent Phenomena (DIEP) with the support of the University of Amsterdam. Science & Cocktails Amsterdam is presented in cooperation with Paradiso Amsterdam.
Line-up
Club
- Ricard Sole
About the speaker
Ricard Sole is a research professor at ICREA (the Catalan Institute for Research and Advanced Studies), currently working at the Universitat Pompeu Fabra as Head of the Complex Systems Lab. Sole completed degrees in both Physics and Biology at the University of Barcelona and received his PhD in Physics at the Polytechnic University of Catalonia. Sole is also an External Professor at the Santa Fe Institute (USA). Ricard Sole has been awarded amongst others by the James McDonnell Foundation and received Advanced ERC grants.
His research focuses on understanding complex systems' evolutionary origins using mathematical models and experimental approaches based on synthetic biology. He has proposed the concept of Synthetic Major Transitions as a unifying framework to explore the origins of innovation in evolution using a parallel approach, namely our potential for building or simulating synthetic systems that can recreate past evolutionary events. This includes a complex systems view of the origin of protocells, multicellular systems, cognition, and language. Sole proposed a novel field of research ("liquid brains") to undergo a search in the space of the possible cognitive networks, from standard brains to "liquid" ones (like ant colonies, slime molds, or the immune system), including plants and artificial swarms. Finally, Sole is also pushing forward a research initiative of terraformation of endangered ecosystems as a potential scenario for preventing tipping points in a future warming planet.

Route naar Tolhuistuin
Tolhuistuin (voorheen Paradiso Noord) is gevestigd aan IJpromenade 2 in Amsterdam Noord. Vanaf Amsterdam Centraal kun je met de gratis veerpont naar de overkant, waar je na links af te hebben geslagen, tegen Tolhuistuin aanloopt. Voor clubnachten wordt de ingang aan de achterkant gebruikt (Buiksloterweg 5C), die te bereiken is via het Overhoeksplein.
Eten vooraf
Bij Tolhuistuin is het mogelijk om vooraf te dineren in het gezellige restaurant in hetzelfde gebouw. Reserveren is aan te raden en kan via deze website.
Paradiso
56 jaar concerten, clubnachten en cultuur

Concert
Net bevestigd
Leifur James
In Paradiso
2 april

Concert
Net bevestigd
Black Country, New Road
In Paradiso
13 oktober

Concert
Net bevestigd
Vundabar
In Tolhuistuin
18 mei

Net bevestigd
Mahazine 2 Release Party
In Paradiso
25 februari

Concert
Fat Dog
In Paradiso
14 april

Concert
Net bevestigd
Cymande
In Paradiso
11 oktober

Net bevestigd
Amos Lee
In Paradiso
17 juli

Concert
Net bevestigd
Brennan Savage
In Tolhuistuin
12 mei

Concert
Net bevestigd
Cero Ismael
In Paradiso
18 april

Concert
Net bevestigd
Kap Bambino
In Paradiso
19 april

Concert
Net bevestigd
Tim Knol & the Wandering Hearts - Tribute to Tom Petty
In Paradiso
4 januari

Net bevestigd
Katie Tupper
In Paradiso
20 april

Concert
Net bevestigd
Mannequin Pussy
In Tolhuistuin
29 mei

Concert
Net bevestigd
Black Country, New Road
In Paradiso
13 oktober

Clubnacht
Third Culture Club invites Saliah & friends
In Parallel
15 februari

Nieuws
Net bevestigd
Djo voor twee concerten naar Paradiso in juni
24 januari

Concert
Net bevestigd
Sirens Of Lesbos
In Paradiso
5 mei

Net bevestigd
Clutch
In Paradiso
11 december

Concert
Net bevestigd
Belinda Carlisle
In Paradiso
2 september

Concert
Net bevestigd
Arz
In Paradiso
13 april

Concert
Net bevestigd
okgiorgio
In Paradiso
11 april

Nieuws
Net bevestigd
Happy Mondays met 'Greatest Hits'-shows naar Paradiso
22 januari

Concert
Net bevestigd
Lambrini Girls
In Paradiso
9 december

Net bevestigd
Mallrat
In Paradiso
14 juni

Concert
Net bevestigd
Wolfmother
In Paradiso
8 augustus

Nieuws
Net bevestigd