ABMS International Conference Series

Home >> CREST-SBM (Search for Breakthrough by Mathematics) International Conference series
CREST-SBM (Search for Breakthrough by Mathematics) International Conference series

Yasumasa Nishiura, Research Director

Mathematics has always produced ways of looking at the world that are ahead of their times. From the Ptolemaic worldview of the harmony of the spheres that accompanied astrology, through to the Newtonian worldview, all the way down to the modern chaos/fractal view of nature, mathematics has brought about a series of paradigm shifts epitomized by the Copernican revolution.
From the standpoint that the highest echelon of technology is to be "invisible technology," mathematics can surely be said to have well and truly secured that position. However, mathematics' more intrinsic role does not reside in its aspect as a "tool" or "hidden supporter of technology" but rather in a completely different function.
That function is to provide a point of view for identifying the essence of things that we have no idea how to understand, and a framework and a perspective for thinking about the problems that today's society faces such as global warming, economic fluctuations, psychology and risk management. What all of these areas called "complex systems" have in common is that there are a huge number of contributing factors and it is difficult to reach an understanding using a simple cause-and-effect framework.
We believe that there would be no hope of finding fundamental solutions to these kinds of problems without the involvement of mathematics.
Most of the PRESTO and CREST researchers are attacking these issues directly or indirectly and it would be indispensable to work together from a globe point of view. The series of ABMS-CREST/PRESTO international conference is designed in order to enhance the understanding of those common problems and collaboration among various types of international researchers.
We hope this activity will become a trigger to resolve those issues.


Japan Science and Technology Agency HOME