BIOCOMPLEXITY AT THE CUTTING EDGE OF PHYSICS, SYSTEMS BIOLOGY AND HUMANITIES

This book represents a result of the activities of the Centro Interdipartimentale “Luigi Galvani” of the University of Bologna (CIG) and it is the first volume of a series dedicated to (bio)complexity in the various fields of knowledge. CIG has been recently founded by initiative of various Departments of the Università di Bologna i.e. : BES (Biologia Evoluzionistica e Sperimentale), DEIS (Elettronica, Informatica e Sistemistica), DIMORFIPA (Morfofisiologia Veterinaria e Produzioni Animali), Fisica, Fisiologia Umana e Generale, Matematica, Medicina Interna Cardioangiologia ed Epatologia, Patologia Sperimentale, Scienze dell'Informazione, Scienze Economiche, Scienze Statistiche "Paolo Fortunati". CIG was started as a new institution in order to overcome the limits of the existing Departments, often obsolete and established in the past within a scientific scenario that did not call for inter- and intra/trans-disciplinary research. The unifying hypothesis of CIG was that biological complexity could be assumed as a new paradigm common to variety of disciplines, from physics and mathematics to economics and demography. Researchers of CIG have published a high number of scientific papers on prestigious international journals addressing cutting edge topics, examined in a multidisciplinary way. This book represents a further advancement within this scientific and epistemological perspective since it has explored the usefulness of the biocomplexity paradigm as a new hermeneutical tool also for humanities. The book is the result of several synergies. The first is the scientific collaboration that many researchers of the University of Bologna have had for years with York University, Canada, thanks to a specific convention between the two Universities. As a matter of fact, the idea for the book was born from the lively debate and exchange of ideas during the International Italo-Canadian Workshop: Biocomplexity: a Paradigm Useful for other Disciplines? held in Bologna, July 13 – 15, 2005. The second stems from the European Thematic Network Project Acume2 Interfacing Science, Literature and Humanities coordinated by Vita Fortunati, aiming not only to encourage the development of an integrated culture amongst the new generations, but also to propose new methodologies and paradigms of knowledge, capable of bridging the so called “two cultures”. Interfacing Sciences and Humanities means an interaction between different systems of knowledge that can build up new common paradigms useful to both of them. Nowadays there is an awareness that a fragmented type of culture is no longer adequate to our modernity and that an excessively specialised knowledge does not seem appropriate to the study and comprehension of the complexity of our contemporary world. Major scientific questions such as climate and demographic changes, energy shortage and genetic engineering require a variety of analytical tools, conceptual framework and modelling that only an integrated knowledge can offer. Another important synergy fostering the publication of this book is the ARCO association where are federated with the CIG three interdipartimental centers for complex systems research.