Shaun Swanson

Shaun Swanson

Aug 11, 2014

Group 6 Copy 146
2

The Return (Why Contribute?)

Apart from establishing a 1-year runway for a collaborative infrastructure for the growing community of Complex Thermostatistics researchers (more on this infrastructure in a later lab note!), and apart from the four popular science lectures on Thermodynamics that will be gifted to the public after this campaign ends, the majority of the funds raised will go toward the development of educational materials for this emerging field. The references purchased will form a Complex Thermostatistics library (to be located initially at the Radius.com headquarters in San Francisco), and any insights myself and others gain from them over the course of this next year will get distilled into a series of 10 "Kahn academy"-style videos which will be delivered at an upper-undergraduate level to those who contribute to this campaign. If you can follow this video, you should be fine! Specifically, I hope to use this more advanced video series to provide Complex Thermostatistics researchers with a deeper understanding of:

  • the historical circumstances behind the development of classical Boltzmann-Gibbs Thermostatistics and the cognitive biases they have introduced
  • overly-restrictive assumptions within the structure of the classical theories
  • recent attempts by researchers to adapt Thermostatistics to describe the behavior of complex systems

This information should help to jump-start the emerging field, providing a level playing field for any researchers who would like to participate early. While contributing is the quickest way for researchers to access the ideas motivating the field of Complex Thermostatistics, the contents of these videos will eventually make their way into open-access publications for all to grapple with. ;) Love, Shaun

2 comments

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  • Oscar Jasklowski
    Oscar JasklowskiBacker
    Came for the lab note, stayed for the calculus review video. Can't wait for the Shaun-led thermostatistics vids!
    Aug 12, 2014
  • Denny Luan
    Denny LuanBacker
    Been enjoying seeing the posts in the Facebook group too! As a bystander, just more fun to watch this grow :)
    Aug 11, 2014
  • Shaun Swanson
    Shaun SwansonResearcher
    Thanks for the encouragement, Denny! :)
    Aug 11, 2014

About This Project

Independent
Let's grow a community of researchers and science-lovers who are passionate about understanding complex systems. We will be working on an adaptation of Thermostatistics together for this purpose! Your contributions will provide a year-long runway for a collaborative infrastructure as well as educational materials for this emerging field.




To receive periodic updates as things develop, sign up here.

To join our research community, head over here.
Blast off!

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