Sergi Valverde
@svalver.bsky.social
#ComplexSystems scientist. Institute of Evolutionary Biology @csic.es| DySOC-UTennessee, Knoxville | Girl dad. He/him.
Lab: svalver.github.io
#EvoBio #CultEvo #ExtendedBiology #hypergraphs
Lab: svalver.github.io
#EvoBio #CultEvo #ExtendedBiology #hypergraphs
Pinned
Sergi Valverde
@svalver.bsky.social
· Nov 12
A starter pack for researchers interested in #ComplexSystems. Complex system science investigates how interactions among multiple parts lead to collective behaviour, as well as how the system interacts and forms links with its environment - please add your name!
go.bsky.app/FNYZ61y
go.bsky.app/FNYZ61y
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
Happy #WinterSolstice ❄️
In Chaco Canyon in the US Southwest, ancient monumental roads align with the winter solstice sunrise over Mount Taylor. Features of both land and sky were (and still are) ritually important to the region's Indigenous people.
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
🏺 #Archaeology
In Chaco Canyon in the US Southwest, ancient monumental roads align with the winter solstice sunrise over Mount Taylor. Features of both land and sky were (and still are) ritually important to the region's Indigenous people.
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
🏺 #Archaeology
December 21, 2025 at 11:00 AM
Happy #WinterSolstice ❄️
In Chaco Canyon in the US Southwest, ancient monumental roads align with the winter solstice sunrise over Mount Taylor. Features of both land and sky were (and still are) ritually important to the region's Indigenous people.
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
🏺 #Archaeology
In Chaco Canyon in the US Southwest, ancient monumental roads align with the winter solstice sunrise over Mount Taylor. Features of both land and sky were (and still are) ritually important to the region's Indigenous people.
🆓 doi.org/10.15184/aqy...
🏺 #Archaeology
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
📢 New Blog Post
Achieving true interdisciplinarity is hard! @shumon.bsky.social makes an argument for accepting the transformative nature of #interdisciplinary research - even if that means researchers must revisit their standard methods and assumptions!
🔗 read on here:
shorturl.at/YE4gx
Achieving true interdisciplinarity is hard! @shumon.bsky.social makes an argument for accepting the transformative nature of #interdisciplinary research - even if that means researchers must revisit their standard methods and assumptions!
🔗 read on here:
shorturl.at/YE4gx
November 26, 2025 at 1:56 PM
📢 New Blog Post
Achieving true interdisciplinarity is hard! @shumon.bsky.social makes an argument for accepting the transformative nature of #interdisciplinary research - even if that means researchers must revisit their standard methods and assumptions!
🔗 read on here:
shorturl.at/YE4gx
Achieving true interdisciplinarity is hard! @shumon.bsky.social makes an argument for accepting the transformative nature of #interdisciplinary research - even if that means researchers must revisit their standard methods and assumptions!
🔗 read on here:
shorturl.at/YE4gx
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
Imagine you have no clue that there is an entire universe of people with diverse capabilities centering on the generation of new ideas and the refinment of old ones.
December 15, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Imagine you have no clue that there is an entire universe of people with diverse capabilities centering on the generation of new ideas and the refinment of old ones.
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
I dislike that Time Magazine has chosen to conflate CEOs with the people who actually got their hands dirty making the technology work.
I’m incensed that Fei Fei Li is half off the page. I’m sure she is too gracious to say it.
I’m incensed that Fei Fei Li is half off the page. I’m sure she is too gracious to say it.
December 12, 2025 at 1:59 PM
I dislike that Time Magazine has chosen to conflate CEOs with the people who actually got their hands dirty making the technology work.
I’m incensed that Fei Fei Li is half off the page. I’m sure she is too gracious to say it.
I’m incensed that Fei Fei Li is half off the page. I’m sure she is too gracious to say it.
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
In episode 1029, I talk with Dr. J. Doyne Farmer (@doynefarmer.bsky.social) about his great book, Making Sense of Chaos: A Better Economics for a Better World. #Economics #Science
youtu.be/h0Vfoz9n2kQ
youtu.be/h0Vfoz9n2kQ
#1029 J. Doyne Farmer - Making Sense of Chaos: A Better Economics for a Better World
YouTube video by The Dissenter
youtu.be
December 6, 2025 at 10:41 AM
In episode 1029, I talk with Dr. J. Doyne Farmer (@doynefarmer.bsky.social) about his great book, Making Sense of Chaos: A Better Economics for a Better World. #Economics #Science
youtu.be/h0Vfoz9n2kQ
youtu.be/h0Vfoz9n2kQ
I’d like to thank Stuart Newman for his editorial work in one of my favorite journals these days. Biological Theory is one of the few journals that takes seriously the intersection between empirical and theoretical approaches to biology. I wish the best to Kevin Lala in his new role as editor.
From Jan 1 2026, I take over as Editor-in-Chief of Biological Theory. I would like to thank my predecessor, Stuart Newman, who has done a terrific job for 10 years. That is truly extraordinary service to the community, and the journal is in a great place thanks to his efforts.
Kevin Lala
Kevin Lala
December 4, 2025 at 3:45 PM
I’d like to thank Stuart Newman for his editorial work in one of my favorite journals these days. Biological Theory is one of the few journals that takes seriously the intersection between empirical and theoretical approaches to biology. I wish the best to Kevin Lala in his new role as editor.
Why does every decade promise a method, a language, or now #AI that will “fix” #software #complexity?
Software never behaved like an engineered artifact.
Our research shows it evolves like an #ecosystem.
A thread ↓
Software never behaved like an engineered artifact.
Our research shows it evolves like an #ecosystem.
A thread ↓
December 4, 2025 at 12:46 PM
Why does every decade promise a method, a language, or now #AI that will “fix” #software #complexity?
Software never behaved like an engineered artifact.
Our research shows it evolves like an #ecosystem.
A thread ↓
Software never behaved like an engineered artifact.
Our research shows it evolves like an #ecosystem.
A thread ↓
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
While discussing ideas on the evolution with @svalver.bsky.social and wandering around wonderful Barcelona, I'm learning some architectural paleontology. Giant (pea-sized) foraminifera — Nummulites and some sea urchin spines. Provenance probably local Eocene «piedra de Gerona», España.
🧪⚒️ #Geology
🧪⚒️ #Geology
November 25, 2025 at 8:16 PM
While discussing ideas on the evolution with @svalver.bsky.social and wandering around wonderful Barcelona, I'm learning some architectural paleontology. Giant (pea-sized) foraminifera — Nummulites and some sea urchin spines. Provenance probably local Eocene «piedra de Gerona», España.
🧪⚒️ #Geology
🧪⚒️ #Geology
Tomorrow 11/26 at 12:00: @andrejpaleo.bsky.social on the deep-time dynamics of Earth's biosphere.
If you’re interested in macroevolution, paleoclimate, complex systems, or scaling laws in natural history, this is one you shouldn’t miss!
Charles Darwin room @prbb.org! @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social
If you’re interested in macroevolution, paleoclimate, complex systems, or scaling laws in natural history, this is one you shouldn’t miss!
Charles Darwin room @prbb.org! @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social
November 25, 2025 at 8:09 PM
Tomorrow 11/26 at 12:00: @andrejpaleo.bsky.social on the deep-time dynamics of Earth's biosphere.
If you’re interested in macroevolution, paleoclimate, complex systems, or scaling laws in natural history, this is one you shouldn’t miss!
Charles Darwin room @prbb.org! @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social
If you’re interested in macroevolution, paleoclimate, complex systems, or scaling laws in natural history, this is one you shouldn’t miss!
Charles Darwin room @prbb.org! @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
Finally a thread that intersects with the insights and expertise of @chrisklausmeier.bsky.social and @maitner.bsky.social
What do Pac-Man, Space Invaders, and Mortal Kombat have to teach us about #cultural #evolution? As a social-technological phenomenon, #arcade game genres evolved like cultural species—some diversified, while others became "living fossils." 🕹️🧪 👉 doi.org/10.1017/ehs....
November 23, 2025 at 12:00 PM
Finally a thread that intersects with the insights and expertise of @chrisklausmeier.bsky.social and @maitner.bsky.social
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
Excited to announce our book “Neuroevolution: Harnessing Creativity in AI Agent Design” by Sebastian Risi, Yujin Tang, Risto Miikkulainen, and myself. We explore decades of work on evolving intelligent agents and shows how neuroevolution can drive creativity in deep learning, RL, LLMs and AI Agents!
November 20, 2025 at 7:22 AM
Excited to announce our book “Neuroevolution: Harnessing Creativity in AI Agent Design” by Sebastian Risi, Yujin Tang, Risto Miikkulainen, and myself. We explore decades of work on evolving intelligent agents and shows how neuroevolution can drive creativity in deep learning, RL, LLMs and AI Agents!
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
#OnThisDay in 1970, Douglas Engelbart received U.S. Patent No. 3,541,541 for the invention we now know as the computer mouse. A small wooden device that reshaped how humans interact with computers and laid the foundation for modern user interfaces.
#OTD #PatentHistory #ComputerHistory
#OTD #PatentHistory #ComputerHistory
November 17, 2025 at 9:59 AM
#OnThisDay in 1970, Douglas Engelbart received U.S. Patent No. 3,541,541 for the invention we now know as the computer mouse. A small wooden device that reshaped how humans interact with computers and laid the foundation for modern user interfaces.
#OTD #PatentHistory #ComputerHistory
#OTD #PatentHistory #ComputerHistory
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
Only 2 days left to get your abstracts in!
👉 A reminder that the deadline for submitting your abstract to the CES 2026 #CESRabat is the 16th of November.
🔗Submit here: airess.fgses-um6p.ma/ces2026
We look forward to seeing you in Rabat!
🔗Submit here: airess.fgses-um6p.ma/ces2026
We look forward to seeing you in Rabat!
Cultural Evolution Society 2026 Conference | Université Mohammed VI Polytechnique - FGSES
aus01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com
November 14, 2025 at 1:14 AM
Only 2 days left to get your abstracts in!
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
In the age of AI slop, true expertise is even more important to value.
Experts are the people who get so annoyed about the precise way to describe something they dedicate their lives to it (see excellent blog: www.experimental-history.com/p/thank-you-...).
We need them and their journals.
7.2/n
Experts are the people who get so annoyed about the precise way to describe something they dedicate their lives to it (see excellent blog: www.experimental-history.com/p/thank-you-...).
We need them and their journals.
7.2/n
Thank you for being annoying
OR: whack 'em if you got 'em
www.experimental-history.com
November 11, 2025 at 11:52 AM
In the age of AI slop, true expertise is even more important to value.
Experts are the people who get so annoyed about the precise way to describe something they dedicate their lives to it (see excellent blog: www.experimental-history.com/p/thank-you-...).
We need them and their journals.
7.2/n
Experts are the people who get so annoyed about the precise way to describe something they dedicate their lives to it (see excellent blog: www.experimental-history.com/p/thank-you-...).
We need them and their journals.
7.2/n
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
Brand-new conference on collective behaviour! Join us to foster a community to study how interactions among the constituents trigger fascinating collective phenomena: biofilms, fish schools, tissue self-organisation, bird swarms & many more!
Thanks to amazing speakers for helping us realise this!
Thanks to amazing speakers for helping us realise this!
✨ How do bird flocks form or diseases emerge?
Join the brand-new EMBO | EMBL Symposium #EESCollectivity and explore how collective behaviours arise from fundamental principles across biological systems 🧬🦠🐒
💻 s.embl.org/ees26-01-bl
✒️ Submit your abstract by 18 Nov
Join the brand-new EMBO | EMBL Symposium #EESCollectivity and explore how collective behaviours arise from fundamental principles across biological systems 🧬🦠🐒
💻 s.embl.org/ees26-01-bl
✒️ Submit your abstract by 18 Nov
August 22, 2025 at 7:35 AM
Brand-new conference on collective behaviour! Join us to foster a community to study how interactions among the constituents trigger fascinating collective phenomena: biofilms, fish schools, tissue self-organisation, bird swarms & many more!
Thanks to amazing speakers for helping us realise this!
Thanks to amazing speakers for helping us realise this!
Pinball model of development and reprogramming. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
November 8, 2025 at 7:53 PM
Pinball model of development and reprogramming. pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC...
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
I am pleased to announce a new postdoctoral position in Theoretical Ecology. More info here: info.bc3research.org/2025/11/06/p...
Postdoctoral position in agroecology for TRANSFORM Project
The Basque Centre for Climate Change (BC3) is offering a full-time postdoctoral research position to support activities within a Horizon Europe project. The project focuses on developing innovative cr...
info.bc3research.org
November 6, 2025 at 3:40 PM
I am pleased to announce a new postdoctoral position in Theoretical Ecology. More info here: info.bc3research.org/2025/11/06/p...
Innovation isn’t random — it follows geometric laws.
Our new Behind the Paper post in @springernature.com Communities explores how innovation forms a fractal geometry — self-organizing like a living system.
communities.springernature.com/posts/the-fr...
Our new Behind the Paper post in @springernature.com Communities explores how innovation forms a fractal geometry — self-organizing like a living system.
communities.springernature.com/posts/the-fr...
The Fractal Geometry of Innovation
Why are some cities more innovative than others? Mapping more than a century of U.S. patents, our npj Complexity study reveals fractal and scaling patterns in innovation—showing how the distribution o...
communities.springernature.com
November 6, 2025 at 9:12 PM
Innovation isn’t random — it follows geometric laws.
Our new Behind the Paper post in @springernature.com Communities explores how innovation forms a fractal geometry — self-organizing like a living system.
communities.springernature.com/posts/the-fr...
Our new Behind the Paper post in @springernature.com Communities explores how innovation forms a fractal geometry — self-organizing like a living system.
communities.springernature.com/posts/the-fr...
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
📢 Here is my commentary about the pitfalls of taking an impoverished evolutionary approach to culture, which include 'the limitations of a unidirectional model of evolution' and 'the neglect of niche construction theory'. #ehbea #evolution #psychscisky 🧪
🧵 1/2
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
🧵 1/2
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
The pitfalls of an impoverished approach to culture: Commentary on Baumard and André
www.sciencedirect.com
November 5, 2025 at 1:00 PM
📢 Here is my commentary about the pitfalls of taking an impoverished evolutionary approach to culture, which include 'the limitations of a unidirectional model of evolution' and 'the neglect of niche construction theory'. #ehbea #evolution #psychscisky 🧪
🧵 1/2
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
🧵 1/2
www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
Congratulations to @gemmaeling.bsky.social al, Ana M. Rojas, and @rosafernandez.bsky.social for their groundbreaking application of large language models to understand the functions of uncharacterized proteins (the “dark proteome” sequences). This is a solid step towards non-model organisms! 🪄🧬
📣Una herramienta basada en IA es capaz de predecir funciones desconocidas de cualquier proteína
📕 Un estudio del @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social y el @cabd-upo-csic.bsky.social ha revelado la función de 24 millones de genes codificantes para proteínas en animales.🧵
👉https://shorturl.at/O1x3m
📕 Un estudio del @ibe-barcelona.bsky.social y el @cabd-upo-csic.bsky.social ha revelado la función de 24 millones de genes codificantes para proteínas en animales.🧵
👉https://shorturl.at/O1x3m
November 5, 2025 at 12:45 AM
Congratulations to @gemmaeling.bsky.social al, Ana M. Rojas, and @rosafernandez.bsky.social for their groundbreaking application of large language models to understand the functions of uncharacterized proteins (the “dark proteome” sequences). This is a solid step towards non-model organisms! 🪄🧬
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
Fractal clusters and urban scaling shape spatial inequality in U.S. patenting 🏺🧪
S. Duran-Nebreda, @blaividiella.bsky.social, @svalver.bsky.social et al
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Innovation is distributed unevenly across space, yet mechanisms behind patenting inequality are poorly understood.
S. Duran-Nebreda, @blaividiella.bsky.social, @svalver.bsky.social et al
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Innovation is distributed unevenly across space, yet mechanisms behind patenting inequality are poorly understood.
November 4, 2025 at 4:30 PM
Fractal clusters and urban scaling shape spatial inequality in U.S. patenting 🏺🧪
S. Duran-Nebreda, @blaividiella.bsky.social, @svalver.bsky.social et al
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Innovation is distributed unevenly across space, yet mechanisms behind patenting inequality are poorly understood.
S. Duran-Nebreda, @blaividiella.bsky.social, @svalver.bsky.social et al
www.nature.com/articles/s44...
Innovation is distributed unevenly across space, yet mechanisms behind patenting inequality are poorly understood.
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
Congratulations Sergi and Co, excellent work! Bretskyan hierarchy in spirit work on the spatial structures of innovation.
Look at this revealing thread on the new study about the spatial patterns of human innovation👇
🧪 #Complexity
Look at this revealing thread on the new study about the spatial patterns of human innovation👇
🧪 #Complexity
Is #innovation born or made? Why do some places keep innovating while others fall behind? Is innovation the product of cities—or of deeper laws?
Our new paper in npj Complexity explores these questions through the lens of a century of US patent data.🧵👇
nature.com/articles/s44...
Our new paper in npj Complexity explores these questions through the lens of a century of US patent data.🧵👇
nature.com/articles/s44...
November 4, 2025 at 3:15 PM
Congratulations Sergi and Co, excellent work! Bretskyan hierarchy in spirit work on the spatial structures of innovation.
Look at this revealing thread on the new study about the spatial patterns of human innovation👇
🧪 #Complexity
Look at this revealing thread on the new study about the spatial patterns of human innovation👇
🧪 #Complexity
Reposted by Sergi Valverde
What does #ecology have to do with #innovation?
#Scalinglaws of innovation don’t just come from city size, they emerge from how ideas compete and spread.
Then, inequality is not a bug; it’s an emergent feature.
See doi.org/10.1038/s442... @svalver.bsky.social @sduran-nebreda.bsky.social
#Scalinglaws of innovation don’t just come from city size, they emerge from how ideas compete and spread.
Then, inequality is not a bug; it’s an emergent feature.
See doi.org/10.1038/s442... @svalver.bsky.social @sduran-nebreda.bsky.social
November 4, 2025 at 11:53 AM
What does #ecology have to do with #innovation?
#Scalinglaws of innovation don’t just come from city size, they emerge from how ideas compete and spread.
Then, inequality is not a bug; it’s an emergent feature.
See doi.org/10.1038/s442... @svalver.bsky.social @sduran-nebreda.bsky.social
#Scalinglaws of innovation don’t just come from city size, they emerge from how ideas compete and spread.
Then, inequality is not a bug; it’s an emergent feature.
See doi.org/10.1038/s442... @svalver.bsky.social @sduran-nebreda.bsky.social
There’s no need for confrontation here. Qualitative and quantitative approaches study the same phenomenon, just at different levels and timescales.
Innovation needs both: imagination to create new forms, and analysis to understand how those forms evolve and connect.
Innovation needs both: imagination to create new forms, and analysis to understand how those forms evolve and connect.
I get what you are saying, yet disagree. Quant counts what is known. Qual discovers what is unknown (which can then be counted or quantified). Innovation is discovery. They aren't opposites but I still argue that Qual is more in innovation's wheelhouse.
Quant and Qual are not opposites — they’re layers of the same phenomenon.
Innovation begins as a social process — people, relationships, creativity — yet it leaves patterns we can learn from.
Quant analysis shouldn't replace the human story; it helps us see how those stories connect across scales.
Innovation begins as a social process — people, relationships, creativity — yet it leaves patterns we can learn from.
Quant analysis shouldn't replace the human story; it helps us see how those stories connect across scales.
November 4, 2025 at 9:40 AM
There’s no need for confrontation here. Qualitative and quantitative approaches study the same phenomenon, just at different levels and timescales.
Innovation needs both: imagination to create new forms, and analysis to understand how those forms evolve and connect.
Innovation needs both: imagination to create new forms, and analysis to understand how those forms evolve and connect.
Quant and Qual are not opposites — they’re layers of the same phenomenon.
Innovation begins as a social process — people, relationships, creativity — yet it leaves patterns we can learn from.
Quant analysis shouldn't replace the human story; it helps us see how those stories connect across scales.
Innovation begins as a social process — people, relationships, creativity — yet it leaves patterns we can learn from.
Quant analysis shouldn't replace the human story; it helps us see how those stories connect across scales.
Innovation isn't quant, it's Qual. The quant just counts the outcome.
Is #innovation born or made? Why do some places keep innovating while others fall behind? Is innovation the product of cities—or of deeper laws?
Our new paper in npj Complexity explores these questions through the lens of a century of US patent data.🧵👇
nature.com/articles/s44...
Our new paper in npj Complexity explores these questions through the lens of a century of US patent data.🧵👇
nature.com/articles/s44...
November 4, 2025 at 8:33 AM
Quant and Qual are not opposites — they’re layers of the same phenomenon.
Innovation begins as a social process — people, relationships, creativity — yet it leaves patterns we can learn from.
Quant analysis shouldn't replace the human story; it helps us see how those stories connect across scales.
Innovation begins as a social process — people, relationships, creativity — yet it leaves patterns we can learn from.
Quant analysis shouldn't replace the human story; it helps us see how those stories connect across scales.