Melanie Colón Posted January 27, 2015 Share Posted January 27, 2015 The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) is now accepting applications for its Investigative Workshop, " http://www.nimbios.org/workshops/WS_warfare>Evolution and Warfare," http://www.nimbios.org/workshops/WS_warfare> to be held September 16-18, 2015, at NIMBioS. *Objectives: *Warfare is a widespread and arguably universal practice of human societies. While war's origins continue to be debated, warfare has occurred in most historically documented societies, from hunter-gatherers to nation-states. Its prehistoric traces can be found in fortifications, weapons, mass graves, and skeletal trauma. Given that it is a major source of mortality, warfare has potentially acted as a powerful source of selection for both biological and cultural evolution. In a reprise of the past – and in contrast to force-on-force, hierarchically organized wars among great powers – conflict today takes a number of decentralized forms, from urban gang fights to livestock raids, and from clan warfare to leaderless resistance and terrorism. Suggestive parallels exist between current patterns of warfare and those that typified subsistence-level societies. Consequently, examining psychological mechanisms that evolved under ancestral warfare conditions may shed important light on what motivates individuals during modern decentralized wars and why people resort to violence in intergroup conflicts. Given the availability of data from contemporary societies and the great damage caused by violent conflict, advancing our understanding of such conflict is both tractable and important. In this workshop, we will begin working toward an integrated approach to the study of warfare under decentralized or only loosely controlled conditions, combining empirical data, evolutionary theory, and mathematical models. We envision developing working hypotheses to answer several key questions about between-group conflict in general, and the nature of ‘decentralized warfare’ in particular. These hypotheses will be informed by evolutionary theory using data from diverse conflict settings. Our hypotheses will be articulated in a framework amenable to formal modeling that will point the way toward a multi-level predictive understanding of warfare. *Location: *NIMBioS at the University of Tennessee, Knoxville *Co-Organizers: * * Biology: Michael L. Wilson http://www.cbs.umn.edu/explore/departments/eeb/faculty-research/directory/michael-wilson>, Univ. of Minnesota * Anthropology: Luke Glowacki http://scholar.harvard.edu/glowacki>, Harvard Univ. * Defense Analysis: Anna Simons http://faculty.nps.edu/asimons/>, Naval Postgraduate School * Mathematics: Sergey Gavrilets http://www.tiem.utk.edu/%7Egavrila/>, Univ. of Tennessee, Knoxville For more information about the workshop and a link to the online application form, go to http://www.nimbios.org/workshops/WS_warfare Participation in the workshop is by application only. Individuals with a strong interest in the topic are encouraged to apply, and successful applicants will be notified within two weeks of the application deadline. If needed, financial support for travel, meals, and lodging is available for workshop attendees. *Application deadline:* May 17, 2015 The National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) (http://www.nimbios.org) brings together researchers from around the world to collaborate across disciplinary boundaries to investigate solutions to basic and applied problems in the life sciences. NIMBioS is sponsored by the National Science Foundation, through NSF Award #DBI-1300426, with additional support from The University of Tennessee, Knoxville. # ***************************** Catherine Crawley, Ph.D. Communications Manager National Institute for Mathematical and Biological Synthesis (NIMBioS) University of Tennessee 1122 Volunteer Blvd, Ste. 106 Knoxville, TN 37996 e ccrawley@nimbios.org t +1 865 974 9350 f +1 865 974 9461 http://www.nimbios.org http://www.facebook.com/nimbios http://twitter.com/nimbios To receive email notifications of blog updates, click here http://www.nimbios.org/wordpress/subscribe2updates/> To subscribe to our bi-monthly newsletter, click here http://visitor.r20.constantcontact.com/manage/optin/ea?v=001RgvbKVLa7a4Psoj8H7c43A%3D%3D> Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.