🚀 go-pugleaf

Please redistribute!

[ Note: available in HTML at http://alife7.alife.org/papers.shtml ]

               -------------------------------------

       Seventh International Conference on Artificial Life
               Reed College, Portland, Oregon, USA
                         1-6 August 2000

                         CALL FOR PAPERS
    
               -------------------------------------
    
    
                          Artificial Life VII
    
      The Seventh International Conference on the Simulation and
                     Synthesis of Living Systems
             Reed College, Portland Oregon, 1-6 August 2000
      
                 "Looking Backward, Looking Forward"
    
     
    Artificial life is an interdisciplinary research enterprise
    investigating the fundamental properties of living systems
    through the simulation and synthesis of life-like processes
    in artificial media. This year's conference coincides with
    the birth of a new millennium, and this presents an
    opportunity to take stock of the community's main
    achievements and central open questions: hence the conference
    theme "Looking backward, looking forward." In addition to
    showcasing the best current work, this conference aims to
    play a pivotal role in shaping the artificial life research
    agenda in the years to come.
    
    All authors of conference papers are encouraged to explain
    how their work sheds light on the fundamental properties of
    living systems. Authors are also encouraged to address the
    conference theme "Looking backward, looking forward" by
    explaining how their contribution builds on important
    previous work in artificial life and helps crystallize and
    make progress on important open questions. Special
    consideration will be given to papers that compare theory
    with data from model systems or experiments and to papers
    that compare such data across different systems, especially
    natural and artificial systems. Papers are welcome on (but
    not limited to) the following topics:

         Origin of life, self-organization, self-replication:
            o astrobiology, exobiology
            o artificial and evolutionary chemistry
            o autocatalytic systems, metabolization
            o synthetic and supermolecular chemistry (including
              molecular self-assembly)
            o molecular information processing, construction and
              nanotechnology

         Development and differentiation:
            o multicellular development
            o gene-regulation networks
            o natural and artificial morphogenesis

         Evolutionary and adaptive dynamics:
            o pattern and mode of evolution, radiation and
              extinction
            o modes of selection (natural, sexual, neutral, kin,
              etc.)
            o artificial evolutionary ecologies and life games
            o molecular evolution in models systems (especially
              RNA evolution)
            o immune and defense systems
            o evolvability and its impact on biological
              organization
            o cultural evolution, evolution and learning
            o evolutionary computation

         Robots and agents:
            o bio-inspired robots, embodied cognition
            o autonomous and adaptive robots and software agents
            o evolutionary robotics

         Communication, cooperation and collective behavior:
            o emergent collective behaviors, swarm intelligence
            o evolution of communication and cooperation
            o social and linguistic systems
            o economic systems, social-technical systems

         Applications of ALife technologies:
            o industrial and commercial applications
                 + evolvable hardware, self-repairing hardware
                   and molecular computing
                 + genetic engineering and nanotechnology
                 + finance and economics
                 + computer games
            o medical applications
            o educational applications

         Simulation and synthesis tools and methodologies:
            o formal and mathematical foundations
            o clarification and evaluation of ALife methodologies
            o simulation languages, experimental tools
            o artificial worlds
            o tools for large data sets

         The broader context:
            o metaphysical and epistemological foundations and
              implications of ALife
            o ethical and social implications of ALife
            o ALife-inspired art

    Full information about conference paper format and submission
    procedures will be available later. Direct questions,
    concerns, and inquiries to the conference email at
    <alife7@alife.org>. Complete and up-to-date information about
    the conference will always be available through the
    conference web site at <http://alife7.alife.org>.

    To catalyze reflection about the theme "Looking backward,
    looking forward" an open-ended web-based discussion will
    proceed the conference. This on-line discussion will survey
    artificial life's main achievements and central open
    questions as well as the future organizational structure of
    the artificial life community. To enhance the community's
    collective intelligence as much as possible, everyone is
    encouraged to participate in this discussion. The theme
    "Looking backward, looking forward" will interconnect most of
    the events at the conference. The conference will kick off
    with a presentation of the consensus that emerged from the
    community's web interactions. All conference presenters will
    be encouraged to connect their work to the theme. A
    roundtable discussion toward the end of the conference will
    reassess artificial life's important achievements and open
    questions in the light of presentations and discussions
    during the conference. And there will be a forum to address
    the idea of founding an international society for artificial
    life.

    The Conference will include a series of workshops and
    tutorials for special interest groups. A separate call for
    workshop and tutorial proposals will appear in November 1999,
    and a Proceedings of Artificial Life VII Workshop papers will
    be published at the Conference. Younger scientists including
    graduate students and post-docs are encouraged to consider
    organizing a workshop. For more information about workshops
    or tutorials, contact the Workshops and Tutorials Co-Chairs:
    Eilis Boudreau (boudreau@pacifier.com) and Carlo Maley
    (cmaley@cs.unm.edu).


*** Important dates ***

         17 January 2000: Receipt of submitted papers
         28 February 2000: Notification of acceptance
         27 March 2000: Camera-ready copy due
         1-6 August 2000: Artificial Life VII Conference

     Publisher
          MIT Press

     Organization
         Conference Chair: Mark Bedau (Reed College)

         Program Committee Co-Chairs: Mark Bedau (Reed College),
            John McCaskill (German National Research Center for
            Information Technology), Norman Packard (Prediction
            Company), Steen Rasmussen (Los Alamos National
            Laboratory)

         Technical Secretary: Titus Brown (California Institute
            of Technology)

         Local Arrangements: Eilis Boudreau (Oregon Health
            Sciences University), Kathy Stackhouse (Reed College)
            Workshops and Tutorials Co-Chairs: Eilis Boudreau
            (Oregon Health Sciences University), Carlo Maley
            (University of New Mexico)

         Webmaster: Tracy Teal (UCLA)

     Contact information

         Mail: Artificial Life VII,
               Reed College, 3203 SE Woodstock Blvd.,
               Portland OR 97202,
               USA

         Phone: (503) 788-6693
         Fax:   (503) 788-6643
         Email: alife7@alife.org
         Web:   http://alife7.alife.org/
-- 
Titus Brown, brown@krl.caltech.edu.