“But others feel that these are still early days for assembly theory, and there’s a real chance that it might bring a fresh perspective to the question of how complexity arises and evolves. “It’s fun to engage with,” said the evolutionary theorist David Krakauer, president of the Santa Fe Institute. Assembly theory, he said, offers a way to discover the contingent histories of objects — an issue ignored by most theories of complexity, which tend to focus on the way things are but not how they got to be that way.”

Philip Ball, “A New Idea for How to Assemble Life”
The Quanta Newsletter May 4, 2023

“He [Cormac McCarthy] is a permanent fixture in our community,” said David Krakauer, an evolutionary theorist and professor at the institute who has become friends with McCarthy. “He’s been living exclusively with theorists for at least 25 years. That is his environment.”

Alexandra Alter, “In his New Books, Cormac McCarthy Gets Real”
The New York Times October 14, 2022

David Krakauer emphasized the limitless nature of our ability to react in a positive manner: “Human flexibility and adaptability, and the open-endedness of human intelligence, make me optimistic. They are kind of boundless.”

As most of the major problems we face are global in nature, it follows that they could best be dealt with if we are able to share some common values governing how this is to be done. But is this possible? David Krakauer thinks it’s hard to devise specific systems that can foster coordination and consensus “when you cannot assume that we’ll have shared values”. Like several other interviewees, he pointed out that their absence is already “a given” in countries like the United States, where polarization is pulling people apart and fragmenting society. He offered, however, a suggestion: “We can learn from biology: How do complex ecosystems with many species that barely communicate and that have different objectives somehow live in a state of relative harmony? We must think of humanity in those ecological terms and start building institutions that can support diversity and not eliminate it.”

Klaus Schwab and Thierry Malleret, The Great Narrative (The Great Reset)

“I reject the notion that we’re running out of ideas. You suggest that the problem is invention. But I see no evidence that people are less ingenious. I see the problem as moving their genius into the world. The problem is the second stage of Schumpeterian innovation.”

Derek Thompson, “Is America Really Running Out of Original Ideas?” 
The Atlantic  December 20, 2021

My initial attraction to the topic of stupidity stemmed from a conversation with David Krakauer, an evolutionary biologist and professor of complex systems at the Santa Fe Institute. In an interview, he said he’s currently grappling with “the evolution of intelligence and stupidity on earth. It’s quite common for people to talk about intelligence. It’s less common for people to talk about stupidity, though, arguably, it’s more common.”

How does Krakauer contrast intelligence and stupidity? Intelligence is “the thing we do that ensures that the problem is efficiently solved in a way that makes it appear effortless. Stupidity is a set of rules that we use to ensure that the problem will be solved in longer [periods of time] than chance, or never, and is nevertheless pursued with alacrity and enthusiasm.”

Thomas Larson, “Stupidity Is Arguably More Common” 
San Diego Reader  June 30, 2021

While we can’t eliminate the threat of new pandemics— evolution is an agile target— we can be far smarter. As complexity theorist David Krakauer, CEO of the Santa Fe Institute, explained during TWIN Tech 2020, “pathogens spread not only because of their innate properties, but also because of our behaviors.”

Robert C. Wolcott, “The Great Unwinding Of 2021: Six Questions To Prosper Through Reopening” 
Forbes  January 18, 2021