Applied Math Seminar

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Life In Flatland: Emergent Origins of Behavior in Non-Neuronal Systems

Speaker: Manu Prakash, Stanford University (host: Ristroph)

Location: TBA

Date: Friday, February 5, 2021, 2:30 p.m.

Synopsis:

Diverse multi-cellular animals encode a breathtaking diversity of natural behaviors. Non local interactions in traditional nervous systems make the study of underlying origins of behavior in animals difficult (and fascinating). It is a well-known fact that simple dynamical systems can also encode perplexing complexity with purely local update rules. In this talk, using a variety of toy models and systems, we will explore how complex behavior can arise in non-neuronal ensembles; or in short "how do animals with no brains (neurons), decide, compute or think?"