Computation and Culture

Course ID: Τ808
Semester: 8th
Time and place: Friday, 15.00-18.00 | room 104
Academic calendar 2020-21

This course aims at (a) studying the evolution of our current information age and how technology and information have influenced the very nature of human consciousness and (b) using approaches based on methods and tools from computer science (like automata theory and theory of computation, game theory, learning algorithms) for the study and analysis of social and cultural phenomena.

Computational models of computer science can be used to study a wide range of cultural issues. For instance: (a) finite automata and context-free grammars can be used to identify the author of a text, (b) cellular automata can be used to determine the origin of a text or linguistic influences it features, (c) ideas and techniques from game theory can be applied to study problems such as understanding different cultures to facilitate international cooperation, improving the quality of life in groups with ethnic diversity, decision making in contexts with culturally heterogeneous characteristics.

Interesting links:

Geometry, Mathematics, Art: John Edmark