First-person phenomena. Third-person rigor.
CSCSC Satellite Meeting at the Conference for Complex Systems 2026 · ccs26.cssociety.org October 15, 2026 · Binghamton, NY, USA
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How should complexity science handle the fact that the observer is part of the system?
Heinz von Foerster called this second-order cybernetics - the study of observing systems, rather than observed ones - and fifty years on it is still mostly an open question. Contemplative traditions have worked on it for much longer, with first-person methods of their own. This satellite asks what each can do for the other.
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You are invited - Thursday, October 15, 2026 · in person and online
Two keynotes - Michael Levin (Tufts) and Alan Rodrigues (Rockefeller) - four research talks, small-group discussions, and a few short practices in between.
Attendance is through the main CCS26 conference registration, at a reduced rate if you want to join this satellite only or attend online. Register at CCS26 →
Join the CSCSC mailing list to be notified of updates on this and related events.
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Most complexity science assumes an observer-independent world. But cracks appear everywhere. In finance, models of the market move the market - the act of studying the system changes the system. In social dynamics, your theory of the group reshapes the group. In contemplative practice, understanding your own mind is the mind changing. These aren't edge cases: they form a continuum from the physicist in the lab (observer-independent), through the economist studying markets (weak observer-dependence), to the person on the meditation cushion studying their own mind (observation is the system changing).
Complexity science has the formal tools to take this continuum seriously. Contemplative traditions have spent millennia investigating it from the inside - and since Francisco Varela's neurophenomenology in the 1990s, researchers have been turning some of that into method. This satellite brings both to bear on the same question: what are we, as scientists, when the observer is part of the system?
You do not need to already work at this intersection to belong in the room. Come whether you apply complexity methods to contemplative phenomena, use contemplative insights to challenge how we model minds and societies, or simply want to think carefully about what observer-dependence means for how you do your research.
If you've felt the gap between your equations and your subject matter - this satellite is for you.
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This satellite runs a little differently from the rest of the conference: alongside the talks there are small-group discussions and a few short practices - brief experiments with our own attention, always optional, and fine to just watch. See how the day is held ↓
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Thursday, October 15, 2026 · all times local to Binghamton, NY. Click any session to open it.
Talks are 20-minute slots including questions; keynotes run a full hour with extended discussion. Bring a phone or laptop: a few sessions use short live polls, with the room's results shown on screen - we make ourselves part of the science.