Los semfiloquios, o coloquios de la SEMF, buscan reunir a grupo selecto de interlocutores procedentes de diversas disciplinas que dialoguen en torno a un tema de interés transversal con la presencia de algún moderador de la SEMF. Las conversaciones se preparan con cierta antelación, poniendo así en contacto a los interlocutores, pudiendo seleccionar lecturas previas y acordado un orden de puntos concretos a abordar durante el semfiloquio. Las conversaciones son retransmitidas en directo por nuestro canal de YouTube, quedando grabadas permanentemente y donde existe la posibilidad de tener una ronda de preguntas de los oyentes que la estén siguiendo en directo.
Curt Jaimungal         Curt Jaimungal is a Torontonian filmmaker who decided to pursue the lens while studying Mathematical Physics at the University of Toronto. As the host of Theories of Everything, Curt observes topics on theoretical physics (GUTs), consciousness, God, free will; all the profound questions that we tend to outwardly ignore but inwardly wrestle with. Theories of Everything is one of the fastest growing science and philosophy podcasts. TOE analyses the current state of TOEs: that is, a surveyance of the field of Theories of Everything (pros, cons, and relations of each). To be a part of the discussion, type Theories of Everything into YouTube, and subscribe to learn more about quantum paradoxes, free will, and consciousness.. Michael Garfield         Michael Garfield is a palaeontologist-futurist exploring the intersections of evolutionary theory, complex systems science, weird philosophy, deep history, and creative meta-disciplinarity. He hosts and produces the Santa Fe Institute’s Complexity Podcast (and manages their social media accounts) as well as the independent Future Fossils Podcast when he’s not writing, making art and music, and raising two kids and an alligator snapping turtle. Carlos Zapata Carratalá       PhD in Mathematical Physics, research on the mathematical foundations of science, particularly physics and cognitive science, founder and director of SEMF.
The Rise of the Podcast In this episode Carlos Zapata-Carratalá discusses with two podcast hosts Michael Garfield (Complexity Podcast) and Curt Jaimungal (Theories of Everything) about the rise of the online podcast format, the relatively high prominence of scientific and philosophical content in this space and what it all means for the future of research and science communication.
Vicente Raja         Postdoctoral Fellow at the Rotman Institute of Philosophy (Western University, Canada) and coordinator of The Eclectic Mind Research Group in the same institution. Member of the Minimal Intelligence Lab (MINT Lab), based at University of Murcia (Spain). His main areas of research are philosophy of cognitive science, theoretical neuroscience, history and philosophy of psychology, and plant behavior. He is specially interested in the way behavior and brain activity relate to each other in cognitive systems, and has worked on the concept of ecological resonance and its place within radical embodiment to address that issue. Miguel Segundo Ortín           Postdoctoral researcher at Utrecht University developing an embodied and situated account of human agency and self-control. Member of the Minimal Intelligence Lab (MINT Lab), based at University of Murcia (Spain). Specialized in the philosophy of the cognitive sciences, with a special emphasis on embodied and situated theories of cognition. Other research interests include the study of so-called “minimally cognitive agents” (e.g., plants), the explanation of skilled performance, and the relationship between culture and cognitive development. Mundy Reimer       Interested in potential axiomatic foundations for biophysics, and the intersection of biology with logic & computation. M.S. in Data Science. B.S. in Neuroscience & Cellular Biology. Carlos Zapata Carratalá       PhD in Mathematical Physics, research on the mathematical foundations of science, particularly physics and cognitive science, founder and director of SEMF.
Plant Cognition In this conversation Carlos Zapata-Carratala and Mundy Reimer discuss with Miguel Segundo and Vicente Raja about recent developments in the field of plant cognition.
Miroslav Kiš   Strategic, results-driven information technology and cybersecurity professional with a demonstrated history of providing expert advice and leading teams that deliver business value while ensuring secure systems operation. Carlos Zapata Carratalá       PhD in Mathematical Physics, research on the mathematical foundations of science, particularly physics and cognitive science, founder and director of SEMF.
Foundations of Finance In this conversation Carlos Zapata-Carratala discusses with Miroslav Kis the origins and fundamental ideas of financial systems and the impact of recent technological developments in the future of science, economics and civilization at large. Basic concepts such as ‘money’, ‘risk management’, ‘exchange’ or ‘blockchain’ will be reviewed and analyzed within the current technological environment.
Flavio del Santo       Flavio is completing a PhD at the University of Vienna on the foundations of quantum mechanics with a focus on the quantum measurement problem. His main research interests lie at the edge between conceptual and theoretical problems of physics and history and philosophy of science. He has worked with Nicolas Gisin developing a research program aimed at exploring indeterministic physics in different theoretical frameworks including. Flavio is currently a guest editor for a special issue of the European Physical Journal that aims to bring together working physicists and professional historians and engage in interdisciplinary research. He has also been the organizer of some international academic events, such as the lecture series on "Scientific Realism", or the symposium "Shut up and Contemplate". Marcel Ertel Graduate studies at the University of Utrecht, PhD student and research assistant at the University of Tübingen. Research in logic, foundations of mathematics, philosophy of mathematics, with a particular emphasis on proof theory, set theory, and the philosophy of Paul Bernays. Martin Green   Martin got his PhD in Theoretical Physics in Toronto in 1981 investigating the idea that the fundamental structure that gives rise to space, time and quantum matter is a unique topological 4-manifold with complicated global connectivity. He has been involved in the Perimeter Institute for Theoretical Physics since its foundation where research on fundamental physics became his full-time dedication until his retirement. Martin has worked in gravitational wave data analysis, galaxy rotation, modified gravity and finite quantum field theory. Martin has enjoyed a diverse career beyond academic research in areas such as electrical engineering, enterprise architecture and risk management. Most recently he has been focusing on environmental sustainability, particularly in reducing greenhouse gas emissions. Carlos Zapata Carratalá       PhD in Mathematical Physics, research on the mathematical foundations of science, particularly physics and cognitive science, founder and director of SEMF.
Foundations: Physics vs Mathematics Is mathematics the language of nature? A conversation about the role of the foundations of mathematics for physics, the concept of infinity in science and the cultural dynamics of theoretical disciplines.
Maximilian Schich           Max is a multidisciplinary scientist investigating the phenomenon of art and culture, he has had a long trajectory as a researcher applying quantitative techniques to history of art and culture studies and he is the current ERA Chair at the Cultural Data Analytics Open Lab at Tallinn University in Estonia. To give a sense of Max’s work, here is a description from the CUDAN Open Lab website: “Our project aims at building a new analytical approach, called ‘Cultural Data Analytics’ that integrates quantitative and qualitative methods, including aspects of network science, complexity science, computational social science, science of science, machine learning, data science, design research, visualization, art history, cultural semiotics, digital culture studies, and creative industries’ studies to work with digitized cultural heritage as well as with born-digital data acquired from contemporary platforms.” Carlos Zapata Carratalá       PhD in Mathematical Physics, research on the mathematical foundations of science, particularly physics and cognitive science, founder and director of SEMF.
Art vs Science Are art and science two ends of the same spectrum? This conversation explores the parallels between art and science from the point of view of modern cultural data analytics and multidisciplinary research collaborations. Topics include: the influence of modern computational frameworks in art history studies, the limitations of quantitative analysis, the future of social science, the prospect of society in the wake of the computational revolution, new paradigms of science, science-art feedback loops, etc.
Samuel García Huete       Doctorando en Microbiología (Instituto Pasteur de París) Kepa Ruiz Mirazo       Investigador en Biología Teórica (Universidad del País Vasco) Blai Vidiella Rocamora         Doctorando en Complejidad (Universitat Pompeu Fabra)
¿Es posible la vida artificial? En este coloquio abordaremos cuestiones, tanto teóricas como prácticas, en torno a la posibilidad de la vida artificial. Exploraremos la frontera entre lo orgánico y lo inorgánico, los límites de nuestros modelos científicos actuales para describir el fenómeno de la vida y el fenómeno de la vida mucho más allá de los confines fenomenológicos habituales.
Carmen Torrijos Caruda       Lingüista Computacional (Instit. de Ingen. del Conocimiento) María José Frápolli         Catedrática de Lógica y Filos. de la Ciencia (Univ. de Granada) Laura Martín Pérez     Lingüista Computacional (Everis)
¿Cómo se crea nuevo lenguaje? Desde el uso de abreviaturas o lenguaje de género hasta la incorporación de neologismos o, incluso, la construcción de idiomas artificiales, la creación de lenguaje es un proceso consustancial a toda comunidad de hablantes. En este coloquio debatiremos sobre los mecanismos que subyacen a este fenómeno y sobre cómo las interfaces digitales o la xenolingüística ponen de manifiesto los límites del lenguaje.
Laura González Salmerón   Doctoranda en Literatura Comparada (Univerisdad de Oxford) Adrià Garriga Alonso       Doctorando en Machine Learning (Universidad de Cambridge) David Tena Cucala       Doctor en Inteligencia Artificial (Universidad de Oxford)
¿En qué medida son posibles la creatividad o la intencionalidad artificiales? En este coloquio trataremos los conceptos de creatividad e intencionalidad humanas, su expresión en la ciencia y el arte y la posibilidad de cuantificarlos para su estudio sistemático. A continuación, se comentarán algunas de las inteligencias artificiales más recientes, como GPT-3 o DALL-E de OpenAI, en las que ya se pueden apreciar indicios de fenómenos similares a la creatividad o la intención.
Carlos Blanco Pérez       Doctor en Filosofía (Universidad Pontificia Comillas) Federico Zalamea       Doctor en Filosofía de la Ciencia (EFREI París - AlliansTIC) Alba de las Heras Muñoz     Doctoranda en Física (Universidad de Salamanca)
¿Es la filosofía de la ciencia tan útil para los científicos como la ornitología para los pájaros? En este coloquio debatiremos acerca del papel que juega la filosofía, y en especial la filosofía de la ciencia, en el ejercicio científico, reflexionando sobre cuáles son las influencias mutuas entre ambas disciplinas. Para hablar de ello contaremos con la presencia de representantes de tres puntos de vista convergentes: la filosofía (Carlos Blanco), la filosofía de la física (Federico Zalamea) y la física en la praxis (Alba de las Heras).
Alejandro Poveda Ruzafa     Doctor en Lógica (Universidad Hebrea de Jerusalén) Pau Enrique Moliner   Doctor en Matemáticas (Universidad de Edimburgo) Roberto Giménez Conejero   Doctorando en Matemáticas (Universidad de Valencia)
¿Qué entiende la comunidad matemática por “matemáticas”? En este coloquio se abordará la cuestión de los fundamentos de las matemáticas con un enfoque accesible y presentando perspectivas históricas, como la de la teoría de conjuntos, así como otras más modernas, como la de la teoría de categorías. También se debatirán cuestiones en torno al ejercicio matemático, como pueden ser el papel de la belleza o las inercias sociales en la investigación.
Martín de la Rosa Díaz     Máster en Física Teórica (IFT UAM/CSIC) Jaime Redondo Yuste     Graduando doble en Física y Matemáticas (UCM) Gabriel Sánchez Pérez   Máster en Física Teórica (IFT UAM/CSIC) Carlos Zapata Carratalá       Doctor en Física Teórica (Universidad de Edimburgo)
¿Es posible el matrimonio entre la relatividad general y la mecánica cuántica? La tarea de reconciliar las descripciones fundamentales que proporcionan la mecánica cuántica y la relatividad general ha ocupado gran parte de los esfuerzos llevados a cabo por la comunidad de físicos teóricos desde hace casi un siglo. En este coloquio hablamos de los orígenes históricos del problema, de sus fundamentos conceptuales y de los diferentes enfoques que se han propuesto en las últimas décadas.