>Date: Fri, 15 Sep 2000 23:14:57 +0200
>From: lolo@ccuma.sci.uma.es (Manuel Mendoza)
>To: OWNER-PCP-DISCUSS@listman.lanl.gov
>Subject: Subscription to PCP-discuss
>X-VMS-To: owner-pcp-discuss@listman.lanl.gov
>
> Email address: lolo@uma.es
>
> Name: Manuel Mendoza García
>
> Postal address: Departamento de Ecologia y Geologia,
>Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad de Malaga, Malaga, Spain
>
> Phone: 952474861
>
> How did you hear about PCP? Looking for "Self-organization"
>in internet
>
> Please take at least one page to describe your work
> and how it might relate to PCP:
>
> I am finihing my PhD on Evolutionary Paleoecology. After that I am
>thinking to apply for a fellowship to keep on researching with Brian
>Goodwin.
>
> Please find enclosed the letter that I sent to Brian Goodwin, one
> month
>ago, and his answer. In that way, I think you will be able to have a
>good idea of my work.
>
> Looking forward to hearing from you, I send my best regards
>
> Manuel Mendoza
>
>
>Dear Dr. Goodwin,
>
> My name is Manuel Mendoza. I think Dr. Ricard Sole has told you about
>my intention to work with you. I have decided to contact you because I
>plan to finish my PhD before the end of this year. I am thinking to
>apply for a fellowship by the next year. In the meantime I will try to
>publish some papers from my PhD work.
>
> My PhD thesis is about evolutionary paleoecology. My PhD advisor, Dr.
>Paul Palmquist (ppb@uma.es), is not a traditional paleontologist but he
>doesn´t work with a complex sistems approach. So, at the begining, my
>PhD thesis had not either this approach. Its aim was the application of
>multivariate stadistic and morphometric analysis to the paleoecology
>research.
>
> I began to work with Dr. Palmquist on August 1993. Because I had not
>been funded with a fellowship during my PhD work, I decided to open a
>small private school. I began to work as a teacher of mathematics,
>chemistry and physics with high school students. Since then I have been
>studying these subjects by my own, in particular physics and chemistry.
> >From a few years ago I teach even at university level for students of
>Life Sciences. When I began my PhD thesis on 1994 I wasn´t sure I wanted
>to work like a researcher. I love science and biology, but I also like
>many others disciplines, and not only scientific ones.
>
> At the begining of 1995 I read "General evolution" by Erwin
> Laszlo. It
>has been one of the most important things in my live. Since then I have
>read all I have been able about complex systems and other related areas.
>I have read, among others, to Ilya Prigogine, Stuart Kauffman, Murray
>Gell-man, Per Bak, Ian Stewuart, Fritjof Capra, Ricard Sole, Humberto
>Maturana, Francisco Varela, Lynn Margulis,Roger Lewin, Daniel Dennett,
>and you. I have learnt a lot of things to understand the word around
>me.
>
> One of the first purposes of my PhD was to identify some features in
>the trophic structure of the mammals communities, characteristic of
>every ecosystem, with the help of multivariate analysis. The finality of
>this was to identify the ecosistem of past communities from the trophic
>structure of its mammals. I found very clear patterns in the trophic
>structure of the present mammals communities. Characteristic patterns of
>every kind of ecosistem. I unknown the origin of this patterns and I
>thought it was an important question, so, about two year ago, I was for
>a long time searching an explanation in the ecology department: books,
>papers and ecology teachers. I intuited that it was related with the
>dinamic of the system and in fact, I found some related explanations,
>but I didn´t found any satisfactory direct explanation. At that time I
>was reading "The Origins of Order" from Stuart Kauffman. Reading the
>fifth chapter (Self-Organization and Adaptation in Complex Systems) I
>found an answer. It didn´t talk about biological communities but I
>understood how non-linear systems, far from equilibrium can origin
>complex patterns. I created a model about how biological communities get
>trophic structure, based on dynamic systems theory. I shown it to Dr.
>Criado (c_criado@uma.es), he is a physicist who teach dynamic systems
>theory at the mathematic-science faculty, at the University of Malaga.
>He agreed with the ideas of the model and he propoused me to simulate it
>by computer. A bit later I had the oportunity to contact Dr. Ricard Sole
>and to show him the model about the origin of trophic structure and our
>intention to simulate it. He seemed also to agree and he is now
>revising the results of the model and his simulation: A manuscript about
>how communities evolve.
>
> At the begining, Paul Palmquist did not seem to agree with this
> change
>of approach, but he has changed his mind and now this approach plays an
>important role in my PhD thesis. Right now I am sure I want to devote to
>scientific research, mainly if I can do it on complex systems.
>
> Two months ago I decided to close my School in order to concentrate
>all my effort on my thesis and the publication of the results. I hope to
>get a posdoctoral fellowship next year and continue researching. The
>only inconvinient is that my family (my wife and a five years old son)
>is not able to accompany me out of Malaga, as she has a good and
>permanent job and now, we all depending on her salary. Therefore, I
>wouldn´t like to be far away from them for a long time, as I think that
>I have an important responsability with them, mainly with my son. For
>this reason I had given up the idea of requesting a posdoctoral
>fellowship in other country.
>
> But now I think it is possible. My tool of work is the computer, not
>the laboratory, and England is very well connected with Malaga by plane.
>I could be in England several months at the begining, in order to start
>the research and after that I could continue working between the two
>places, this is, living in Malaga, but connected with the research
>Center in England by Internet, and travelling to England as much times
>as necessary.
>
> Nothing would like to me more than to be full time in the Schumacher
>College. I got some information about its Master, some time ago, and I
>have visited its web pages many times. Many of its teacher-visitors are
>some of the most interesting researchers for me and I also think
>personal meetings are fundamental in the research process, but I think
>that the role of a father in the life of a five years old child is
>unreplaceable.
>
> Other things related with my formation are:
>
> - In 1992 I was contracted for the Andalusian Enviroment Agency to
>research some problems with the wild hogs (Sus scrofa) in "Montes de
>Malaga" Natural Park.
>
> - During the two last years I have been organizing and moderating
>periodic transdisciplinar meetings at the University of Malaga. Among
>the usual participants there were physicists, philosophers, architects,
>epistemologists, informatics, and mainly biologists, from diferent
>subdisciplines. Some of the subjets that we have talk about are, for
>example:
>
> - Do the Science progress?
> - Are there trends in biological evolution?
> - Are there trends in social evolution?
> - The responsability of the scientist
> - The origins of order (I participated in its introduccion)
> - Ways of knowledge
>
> For the introduction of "Ways of knoledge" I invited Dr Humberto
>Maturana, who was in Malaga offering a seminar in which I participated.
>
> - I have also been collaborating to impart a new subject for the
>biological studies. At the University of Malaga there is not a research
>Group of Complex Systems, but Dr. Medina (medina@uma.es), a biochemist
>teacher at this University, is very interested on Complexity Sciences
>and he has been offering an optional subject about this matter, since
>three years ago.
>
>
> About one year ago I read your book "How The Leopard Changed Its
> Spots:
>The Evolution of Complexity". I liked it very much. When I read the last
>chapter I thought you was the kind of person who I would like to work
>with. However, at that moment I didn´t consider this possibility. But
>now, the situation is different and I would like to know if this is
>possible. I will appreciate if you can inform me about your opinion.
>
> Best wishes
> Manuel Mendoza
>
>
>
>
>Dear Manuel,
>Thanks for your email. Ricard Solé mentioned to me when we were in Santa
>Fe
>that you are interested in doing research on complexity in ecosystems
>and related
>areas. You will probably have seen that the other permanent member of
>staff
>at Schumacher College is Stephan Harding, an ecologist and computer
>modeller.
>So together we could probably help you with your research interests.
>However, there are two factors that we must resolve. One is finance. Our
>college has no funding for research, so you would have to find financial
>support for a visit here. The other factor is that the college runs as a
>community which takes collective decisions about the people who live and
>work
>here. We have no position of 'researcher' within the college. However, I
>can
>explore your situation with the other members of the college and see if
>there
>is some category of research visitor that you could occupy. However, you
>would still be involved in college life (preparing meals, cooking), like
>everyone else. We consider that learning is more than intellectual
>work, as I am sure you agree. I shall make enquiries and let you know.
>Yours sincerely, Brian Goodwin.
>
>
>
>
---- O------------------------------------------------------------------------> | Cliff Joslyn, Member of the Technical Staff (Cybernetician at Large) | Distributed Knowledge Systems Team, Computer Research Group (CIC-3) | Los Alamos National Laboratory, Mail Stop B265, Los Alamos NM 87545 USA | joslyn@lanl.gov http://www.c3.lanl.gov/~joslyn (505) 667-9096 V All the world is biscuit-shaped. . .======================================== Posting to pcp-discuss@lanl.gov from Cliff Joslyn <joslyn@lanl.gov>
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