This project seeks to mathematically model collective, cooperative purpose as is widely exhibited in living systems from microbes to metazoans. In particular, it builds off of kin selection, multilevel selection and evolutionary game theory to introduce a novel conceptual framework to explain how the evolution of collective, purposeful, synergistic cooperation can emerge from natural selection. A key output of this work will be a new modeling framework that is generally applicable to diverse biological scenarios and helps to unify existing theoretical resources for the evolution of agential features in living systems.
Ben Allen
Modeling Agency Formally
Natural selection for collective purpose
Subaward Principal Investigator
Emmanuel College
I have always been interested in how math can help us understand big questions of evolution and behavior. Much of my work explores the evolutionary dynamics of social or collective behavior, and how this is affected by spatial or social network structure within the evolving population. More generally, I seek to deepen our understanding of evolution by proving mathematical theorems that apply to a wide range of evolutionary processes. I currently serve as an Associate Professor of Mathematics at Emmanuel College in Boston, MA. Before that, I obtained my PhD in Mathematics from Boston University, and completed a postdoc in Evolutionary Dynamics at Harvard University.
Alex McAvoy
Modeling Agency Formally
Natural selection for collective purpose
University of Pennsylvania
I am interested in game theory, population dynamics, and the ways in which game theory can inform our understanding of populations of interacting agents. My work includes mathematical models of genetic and cultural evolution, as well as of reinforcement learning within a population. I am especially interested in theoretical aspects of collective behavior (such as learning) emerging from simple interactions. I have a Ph.D. in mathematics from the University of British Columbia and spent several years in Boston before joining the Center for Mathematical Biology at the University of Pennsylvania as a Simons Postdoctoral Fellow.