The Indian Institute of Technology Bombay is organising N. R. Kamath Distinguished Lecture on Wednesday, March 24, 2021. The details of the lecture are given below: 

TITLE :  “Life and Random Algorithms” 

SPEAKER : Prof. Bruce Hajek, (_Leonard C. and Mary Lou Hoeft Endowed Chair in Engineering, Dept. of Electrical and Computer Engineering, and Coordinated Sciences Laboratory, University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign) 

DAY & DATE:  Wednesday, March 24, 2021 

TIME: 6.00 pm

ABOUT THE SPEAKER: 

Prof. Bruce Hajek is a Center for Advanced Study Professor of Electrical and Computer Engineering, Hoeft Chair of Engineering, and Research Professor in the Coordinated Science Laboratory at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, where he has been on the faculty since 1979. He received a BS in Mathematics and MS in Electrical Engineering from the University of Illinois and the Ph. D. in Electrical Engineering from the University of California at Berkeley. Prof. Hajek's research interests include  communication networks, auction theory, stochastic analysis, combinatorial optimization, machine learning, information theory, and bio-informatics. He served as Editor-in-Chief for the IEEE Transactions on Information Theory, and as President of the IEEE Information Theory Society. He received the IEEE Kobayashi Award for Computer Communication and the ACM SIGMETRICS Achievement Award and he is a member of the US National Academy of Engineering.

ABSTRACT:

Life and random algorithms are intertwined. Individuals and communities are built upon random algorithms, through mechanisms of mutation and biological regulatory networks for evolution of individuals, to social order emerging from traditions, constitutions, and communication platforms. Random algorithms are increasingly exerting themselves in modern living. Distributed trust and social choice can be supported by algorithms, with randomization providing simplicity and tractability. Random selection is central to science as in thermodynamics and quantum mechanics. Humans embrace randomness, witnessed by the lure of lotteries and gambling. And humans are creating new random algorithms at an accelerating pace. This talk explores the symbiosis between life and random algorithms, the moderating influence of the law of large numbers, randomness in religion, free will, and opportunities and pitfalls of the human condition.