Science at the Edge

November 3, 2017

1400 Biomedical Physical Sciences

11:30 am

John P. Ralston

Department of Physics and Astronomy

University of Kansas

"Finding Emergent Regularities in Multi-Dimensional Data: If Any!" 

Abstract:

21^st century sciences faces the problem of too much (!) high-dimensional data to interpret or use effectively. It is a great interdisciplinary “crisis” of the current era. The problem is mathematically deep. It is also an unrecognized outcome of the reductionist approach to science exemplified by 19^th century physics, which is obsolete.

Seeking “emergent” subsystems is a new idea to discover patterns of orderly behavior that vast complexity often makes on its own. By abandoning reductionism, the critical concept of ‘what do you mean by a probability’ is freed up to allow progress. We will describe the outcomes, with real-world examples, where anyone can usually find a bit of gold in almost any data.

Lerena R. Heintzelman

Department of Physics & Astronomy

Michigan State University

567 Wilson Rd. Room 3261

East Lansing, MI 48824

517-884-5513