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Summary

This conference will bring together researchers in philosophy, theoretical economics, formal political science, computer science, mathematics, statistical physics, sociology and engineering who have been independently studying similar questions: namely, opinion formation dynamics, peer interactions and deliberation in social groups, and the implications of these phenomena for the epistemic competency of collective decisions.

Each speaker will deliver a one hour presentation, followed by fifteen minutes of questions and discussion with audience members. Due to the interdisciplinary nature of the conference, we will leave plenty of time for discussion and interaction. We hope this will lead to new interdisciplinary collaborations.

Invited speakers

• Richard Bradley (Philosophy, London School of Economics)
• Bernard Chazelle (Computer Science, Princeton University)
• Franz Dietrich (Economics and Philosophy, CNRS and Paris School of Economics)
• Fabio Fagnani (Mathematics, DISMA Politecnico di Torino)
• Umberto Grandi (Computer Science, IRIT, Université de Toulouse)
• Catherine Hafer (Political Science, New York University)
• Stephan Hartmann (Philosophy, Ludwig-Maximilians-Universität München)
• Dimitri Landa (Political Science, New York University)
• Hélène Landemore (Political Science, Yale University)
• Mark Thordal Le Quement (Economics, University of East Anglia)
• Adam Meirowitz (Economics, University of Utah)
• Erik J. Olsson (Philosophy, Lund University)
• Scott E. Page (Complex Systems, Political Science & Economics, University of Michigan – Ann Arbor)
• Rajiv Sethi (Economics, Barnard College, Columbia University, and the Santa Fe Institute)
• Kai Spiekermann (Political Philosophy, London School of Economics)

Panel discussion leaders

• Antoine Billot (Economics, Université Paris 2)
• Mikaël Cozic (Philosophy, Université Paris 12 and IHPST)
• Jérôme Lang (Computer Science, CNRS and Université Paris Dauphine)
• Brian Hill (Economics and Philosophy, CNRS and École des Hautes Études Commerciales, Paris)
• Philippe Mongin (Economics and Philosophy, CNRS and École des Hautes Études Commerciales, Paris)
• Gabriella Pigozzi (Computer Science, Université Paris Dauphine)
• Juliette Roussin (Political Philosophy, Collège de France)

Conference location

The conference will take place in at 24 rue Lhomond, Paris 75005 (on the campus of the École Normale Supérieure). On Wednesday and Friday, the presentations will take place in room L357/L359. On Thursday, they will take place in room L361. Here is a map of the area:

Presentation titles and abstracts

Program

Wednesday, May 30 (room L357/L359)

9h00-9h10 Welcome coffee

9h10-9h15 Opening remarks

9h15-10h15 Scott E. Page: Re-Interpreting Condorcet: Foundations and Incentives for Collective Accuracy

10h15-10h30 Discussion

10h30-10h45 Coffee Break

10h45-11h45 Rajiv Sethi: Culture and communication (companion paper)

11h45-12h00 Discussion

12h00-13h30 Lunch and Coffee (at Jardin de Luxemburg, weather permitting)

13h30-14h30 Hélène Landemore: When Democratic Theory Meets Political Epistemology: Epistemic Democracy as a Research Program

14h30-14h45 Discussion

14h45-15h45 Kai Spiekermann: Truth in Politics: Finding Your Epistemic Peers

15h45-16h00 Discussion

16h00-16h15 Coffee Break

16h15-17h15 Open panel discussion, led by Antoine Billot and Jérôme Lang

17h15-18h15 Erik J. Olsson: The Epistemology of Social Networks: A Bayesian Account

18h15-18h30 Discussion

Thursday, May 31 (room L361)

9h00-9h15 Welcome coffee

9h15-10h15 Stephan Hartmann: Modeling Collective Decision Making [printable version]

10h15-10h30 Discussion

10h30-10h45 Coffee Break

10h45-11h45 Umberto Grandi: Opinion diffusion as aggregation

11h45-12h00 Discussion

12h00-13h30 Lunch and Coffee (at Arènes de Lutèce, weather permitting)

13h30-14h30 Open panel discussion, led by Brian Hill and Philippe Mongin

14h30-15h30 Dimitri Landa: Deliberation as Self-Discovery

15h30-15h45 Discussion

15h45-16h00 Coffee Break

16h00-17h00 Catherine Hafer: Cognition, Argumentation, and Informed Choice

17h00-17h15 Discussion

17h15-18h15 Richard Bradley: Learning from Others

18h15-18h30 Discussion

19h30 Banquet dinner at Tintilou (37 bis Rue de Montreuil, 75011 Paris; closest metro is Faidherbe-Chaligny on Metro Line 8.)

Friday, June 1 (room L357/L359)

9h00-9h15 Welcome coffee

9h15-10h15 Bernard Chazelle: Opinion Dynamics Out of Equilibrium

10h15-10h30 Discussion

10h30-10h45 Coffee Break

10h45-11h45 Fabio Fagnani: Centrality, consensus, wisdom of crowds in network models

11h45-12h00 Discussion

12h00-13h30 Lunch and Coffee (at Jardin des Plantes, weather permitting)

13h30-14h30 Open panel discussion, led by Mikaël Cozic and Juliette Roussin

14h30-15h30 Franz Dietrich: Pooling opinions and their informational basis

15h30-15h45 Discussion

15h45-16h00 Coffee Break

16h00-17h00 Mark Thordal Le Quement: Disliking to disagree (companion paper)

17h00-17h15 Discussion

17h15-17h30 Closing remarks

[Downloadable program]

Banquet

The conference banquet will be Thursday evening at 19h30, at the restaurant Tintilou (37 bis Rue de Montreuil, 75011 Paris). Vegetarian options will be available. The banquet is free for all conference participants. You are also welcome to invite guests to accompany you, but they will have to pay for their dinner (50 euros per person).

The closest metro station is Faidherbe-Chaligny, which is on Metro Line 8. It is about 30 minutes by metro, but is also a pleasant 50 minute walk across eastern Paris. After the Thursday session ends, we can walk there as a group. Here is a map:

Conference sponsors

We gratefully acknowledge the financial support of the following institutions and research projects:

• l’Institut d’Études Avancées (Institute for Advanced Studies) of the Université de Cergy-Pontoise.
• The research team Décision, rationalité, interaction of the Institut d’histoire et de philosophie des sciences et des techniques (IHPST).
• Collective Attitude Formation (ColAForm) (ANR-16-FRAL-0010).
• Coping with Heterogeneous Opinions (CHOp) (ANR-17-CE26-0003).
• Labex MME-DII (ANR11-LBX-0023-01).

Conference organization team

Marcus Pivato (Economics, Université de Cergy-Pontoise)

With the invaluable administrative assistance of Yolande Gustave (Université de Cergy-Pontoise).