ABSTRACT
A historic building on the Oude Turfmarkt in Amsterdam houses the Institute for Advanced Study of the University of Amsterdam. This sunny spring week, David Krakauer is here as member of the IAS board of advisors and as a guest among his fellow complexity scientists. He sits in a brown armchair by the open window: calm, articulate and seemingly unhindered by severe jet lag. Krakauer is an evolutionary theorist and president of the renowned Santa Fe Institute (sfi), which has an almost mythical status among scientists as ‘a playground for geniuses.’ As a professor of complex systems, he explores the ‘evolution of intelligence and stupidity on earth.’
