Gareth Baxter
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baxterity.bsky.social
Gareth Baxter
@baxterity.bsky.social
110 followers 92 following 12 posts
Complex scientist.
Physics professor and researcher. Studying complex networks, social collective phenomena, complex systems.
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Reposted by Gareth Baxter
complenet.bsky.social
📢 Excited to announce CompleNet 2026! Join us to share your network science research in a highly interdisciplinary conference!

🗓️ 4–8 May 2026 | 📍 Zaragoza, Spain 🇪🇸
🚨 Call for contributions open – submit by Nov 15, 2025!
🌐 Info & registration: complenet.weeblysite.com
September 15, 2025 at 11:59 AM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
hirokisayama.bsky.social
Mirta Galesic argues the need for (complex systems) scientists to collectively raise voice to break the currently ongoing spiral of silence
#CCS2025
September 5, 2025 at 8:41 AM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
css-conference.bsky.social
Thank you Prof. Mirta Galesic (University of Vienna and Santa Fe Institute) for the inspiring talk “Collective moderation of public discourse” at CCS 2025!
September 5, 2025 at 8:29 AM
baxterity.bsky.social
Fascinating talk by Christian Bentz on language complexity at the Compila satellite at CCS #Compila2025 #CCS2025
September 4, 2025 at 9:37 AM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
sanjanah.bsky.social
A patina of hate: The targeting of academics in New Zealand, January to June 2025

www.linkedin.com/pulse/patina... (LinkedIn)

sanjanah.wordpress.com/2025/09/03/a... (WordPress)

#nzpol #dangerousspeech #academicfreedom #freedomofexpression #newzealand
September 3, 2025 at 8:39 AM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
melaniemitchell.bsky.social
New paper: "Large Language Models and Emergence: A Complex Systems Perspective" (D. Krakauer, J. Krakauer, M. Mitchell).

We look at claims of "emergent capabilities" & "emergent intelligence" in LLMs from the perspective of what emergence means in complexity science.

arxiv.org/pdf/2506.11135
arxiv.org
June 16, 2025 at 1:15 PM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
abeba.bsky.social
from a 2022 paper with @gyllingberg.bsky.social & @soccermatics.bsky.social

The lost art of mathematical modelling www.sciencedirect.com/science/arti...
We argue that currently, the universalist approach dominates and creation of new models, which is inherent to pluralism, is not sufficiently emphasised. This brings us to, in Sections 6 Machine learning cannot replace modelling, 7 Are hybrid models the answer?, a discussion of how mathematical biology has responded with the rise of machine learning. We argue that ML, which emphasises prediction (activity 3), is ill-prepared to deal with complexity without incorporating some form of mechanistic model building. But we also, more controversially for those working in mathematical biology, emphasise how some of the responses to the rise of ML have fallen into the trap of making models of models (or fitting models to data generated by models) rather than innovating by creating new models of biology itself. We conclude that mathematical biology needs less unification and less analysis of existing models, and more creativity and more creation of new models. We should be creative without fear of them being wrong or producing ideas that are mathematically intractable, with an aim of providing a multitude of tools for better understanding of biological systems. Instead, the radical definition of complex systems comes from, what is known as, critical complexity. Work by Paul Cilliers and Alicia Juarrero warned against aggrandising models (even supposedly complex systems models) [3], [4]. They emphasise the need to embrace the ambiguous, messy, fluid, non-determinable, contextual, and historical nature of complex systems. They describe complex phenomena as unfinalizible and inexhaustible, which means that we can never capture any given biological system entirety with models [5]. Fig. 1, adapted from Di Paolo et al. (2018), captures the interdependence, fluidly and interactivity of agents and environments in a complex system [2]. Complex systems are open-ended, which means there is no uncontested way of telling whether what we have included in a model is crucial or what we have omitted as irrelevant is indeed so. Models can, according to the critical complexity approach, be contradictory: we can accept two incompatible predictions as both describing the same system. This approach views a model as a snapshot of a system and no single snapshot tells the whole story. For modelling the human body, for example, “a portrait of a person, a store mannequin, and a pig can all be models” [6]. None is a perfect representation, but each can be the best model for a human, depending on whether one wants to remember an old friend, to buy clothes, or to study anatomy. The critical complexity view suggests that theoreticians should avoid specialising in any one modelling approach and try to find the right set of models to understand a particular system in a given context. There can, of course, be more than one definition of complex systems. Indeed, Cilliers and Juarrero’s approach to complexity encourages a plurality of definitions (after all, there is no single view of a system). We would, though, emphasise that it is the radical definition of complexity – in which systems always resist a complete description, are open and unfinalizable – which is least well understood by mathematical biologists today. It is therefore important to investigate how complexity should be approached in the study of biological systems.
June 7, 2025 at 3:01 PM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
mluczak.bsky.social
Your next network science conference opportunity: NetSci-X 2026 in Auckland, New Zealand. netscix2026.github.io #NetSci2025 #NetSciX2026
June 6, 2025 at 4:33 PM
baxterity.bsky.social
@gin-bianconi.bsky.social the thoroughly deserving recipient of the Netsci Euler Award, giving her personal perspective on the nature of networks
#NetSci2025
June 6, 2025 at 9:10 AM
baxterity.bsky.social
Underway at @netsciconf.bsky.social

Hieko Lietz getting us underway at the Critical Phenomena satellite
June 2, 2025 at 6:45 AM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
laurenshof.online
After a court order by the Turkish government, Bluesky made accounts unavailable for Bluesky users in Turkey this week.

I take a closer look at geographic-based moderation works on Bluesky and atproto, how it can be sidestepped, and much more

fediversereport.com/bluesky-cens...
Bluesky, censorship and country-based moderation
This week, Bluesky hid accounts in for users in Turkey after a government order. I take a closer look at government censorship and ATProto, how geographic moderation labelers work, and the impact on t...
fediversereport.com
April 17, 2025 at 7:17 PM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
css-conference.bsky.social
🌐 Don't miss the opportunity to submit your abstract at CCS25!
February 25, 2025 at 10:57 AM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
ronaldomenezes.bsky.social
New research on inequality in online communities! We show that as communities grow, participation becomes increasingly concentrated among fewer users w/ Guilherme Machado, @diogofpacheco.bsky.social and @baxterity.bsky.social. arxiv.org/abs/2503.02661 @exetercompsci.bsky.social @uaveiro.bsky.social
Super-Linear Growth and Rising Inequality in Online Social Communities: Insights from Reddit
We study the effect of the number of users on the activity of communities within the online content sharing and discussion platform Reddit, called subreddits. We found that comment activity on Reddit ...
arxiv.org
March 5, 2025 at 5:32 PM
baxterity.bsky.social
Hoping to update my starterpack of the Portuguese complexity community.

If you study complex systems or related things and work in Portugal or have a connection to Portugal, please get in touch!

go.bsky.app/A8RRk6j
December 12, 2024 at 3:13 PM
baxterity.bsky.social
It's a network conferency day. Abstract submitted to @netsciconf.bsky.social, and while I won't be able to attend, I've also finished my reviews for @complenet.bsky.social in Fortaleza.

Both shaping up to be great meetings!
December 10, 2024 at 2:03 PM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
troybaisden.bsky.social
More on Marsden’s dark day: There’s detailed comments via SMC www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz/2024/12/04/g...
Govt cuts humanities and social science funding - Expert Reaction
Humanities and social science funding has been cut from the Marsden Fund, the main fund for 'blue-skies' research in Aotearoa New Zealand. The areas that have been cut include research in subjects lik...
www.sciencemediacentre.co.nz
December 4, 2024 at 4:26 AM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
lmrocha.bsky.social
We are looking for a coordinator for our new ERA Chair project based in Portugal (more news about that soon). Experience with #ComplexSystems a plus!

fm.ucp.pt/news/post-sc...
POST OF SCIENCE MANAGER
CBR hereby announces the opening of an international call for applications for one vacancy of Science Manager to perform duties of science management and knowledge (with an exclusivity clause), in the...
fm.ucp.pt
November 30, 2024 at 11:07 PM
baxterity.bsky.social
www.rnz.co.nz/news/what-yo...
What we know about the likely consequences of the new Gangs Act
Explainer - How will new gang laws, inspired by Australia's, likely play out in New Zealand?
www.rnz.co.nz
November 26, 2024 at 10:57 AM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
labourlewis.bsky.social
This post from the PM is problematic for a number of reasons.

A thread…🧵
November 21, 2024 at 10:15 PM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
theguardian.com
Nine-day hīkoi to uphold the Treaty of Waitangi and Māori rights – in pictures
Nine-day hīkoi to uphold the Treaty of Waitangi and Māori rights – in pictures
A protest march has travelled for nine days across New Zealand, culminating at Wellington and parliament on Tuesday Continue reading...
dlvr.it
November 19, 2024 at 12:58 AM
baxterity.bsky.social
I created a starter pack for complex systems researchers in portugal, and portuguese researchers around the world.

Unfortunately many of the people I would like to add are still not here!

Please send me suggestions for who to add. Very much work in progress.

go.bsky.app/A8RRk6j
November 19, 2024 at 10:28 AM
baxterity.bsky.social
20 million coming up....

bcounter.nat.vg
Bcounter
Almost-real-time Bluesky user count
bcounter.nat.vg
November 19, 2024 at 10:22 AM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
complenet.bsky.social
If you’re working in #NetworkScience or #ComplexNetworks, I strongly encourage you to consider joining #CompleNet25 in Fortaleza, Brazil. It’s a great opportunity to share ideas and connect with the community. Deadline is tomorrow, 15 November. @CompleNet cmt3.research.microsoft.com/CompleNet2025
Conference Management Toolkit - Login
Microsoft's Conference Management Toolkit is a hosted academic conference management system. Modern interface, high scalability, extensive features and outstanding support are the signatures of Micros...
cmt3.research.microsoft.com
November 14, 2024 at 9:56 PM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
lajello.bsky.social
It's great to see the massive wave of people coming to 🦋.
Here's my first stab at a Computational Social Science starter pack:
go.bsky.app/2m6iQ68

Go check out similar lists to bootstrap your network:
bsky.app/starter-pack...
bsky.app/starter-pack...

Wonder if these lists could be merged somehow..
November 13, 2024 at 5:16 PM
Reposted by Gareth Baxter
ronaldomenezes.bsky.social
go.bsky.app/BRacuno
November 14, 2024 at 12:20 AM