Theme 1. Comparing between major transitions.
Intermediate stages within a major transition are of special importance, since they may help us understand the process and its determinants. In spite of much research on major transitions, an agreed set of measurable parameters with which to characterize the process and the location of specific intermediate forms along it, is not yet in hand. We intend to map important characteristics that change along the process, and use them to identify commonalities and differences between the transition to multicellularity and the transition to eusociality. In particular, we will evaluate the possible role of group size, structure, selection, and adaptation dynamics, and propose an explicit role for spatial and temporal dimensions of evolutionary transitions in individuality.
Theme 2. Humans in the context of major transitions.
We will use insights gained in the first phase in order to evaluate the proposition that human society may be undergoing a major transition. This question requires an interdisciplinary team, holding different research perspectives and priorities. We wish to tackle the issue from the broadest perspective, and attempt to provide some novel insights. Towards this end, we will gather a team of biologists, philosophers, anthropologists, sociologists, psychologists, and system scientists; researchers who study the empirical and context-dependent complexities of evolutionary processes, together with researchers who aim for universal and determinate generalities.
Theme 3. Mathematical models of major transitions, and of changes in human societies.
Models are strong tools to clarify and evaluate complex conceptions, as well as to gain novel insights on them. Fundamental insights on cultural evolution in recent decades have been discovered using mathematical modelling. The conceptions that will arise during thematic sessions 1-2 will be framed and scrutinized within a mathematical modelling framework.