Our mission at FQXi has always been to push boundaries, and to try to focus attention and effort of the scientific community on (what we consider to be) super-interesting areas of research that for one reason or another have gone less explored than they deserve. A new program, a joint venture with the Fetzer Franklin Fund, is no exception. Following on the heels of The Physics of the Observer, our latest program looks at the intersections between physics, information theory, biology, artificial intelligence, neuroscience, and other fields to address the question: How does Agency arise in the physical world?
How is it that some physical systems "choose" one future or the other based on internal goals or desires? As explored in our previous essay contest, Wandering Toward a Goal, explanation in terms of goals directly contradicts the standard fundamental physics description of the world as the evolution of initial data by equations of motion. But it is very clearly much more effective and efficient for some systems, especially those that are alive. How does this type of explanation co-exist with the evolving "state explanation"?
The Physics of Information program and the Physics of the Observer program brought out some hidden aspects and layers to our description of the world: that in some systems information is a key causal agent, rather than mass, force, and so on. And even in the most fundamental physics, the observer - an agent that can interact with a system and obtain information about it - cannot generally be excised from consideration. If we now ask how systems can learn, think, and act back on the physical world, we come to agency. What role do information, intelligence, emergence, inference, statistical mechanics, and hierarchy play? The new program will dive in.
After announcing the Agency in the Physical World program and launching our co-themed essay contest What Is Fundamental?, it is now time to announce our Large Grant RFP.
Our Large Grant round will award about $1.2M to researchers in academic and other nonprofit institutions for projects up to two years, starting August 2018. The mechanics of the grant application process follow FQXi's standard routine. We invite all interested parties to submit a brief initial application via our website (now open). Initial applications are due February 1, 2018.
A team of reviewers will select finalists from this initial pool. Those selected will be invited to prepare a full-length proposal, to be submitted in early June. We will announce awards based on these full proposals in early August.
You can read the full details on the RFP site or download the RFP pdf announcement.