Boris Steipe

University of Munich School of Medicine (1978-1985); Max-Planck Institute for Biochemistry (1985-1994); Gene Center of the University of Munich (1995-2001); University of Toronto (since 2001). I wish to understand complexity in adaptive systems. Complexity arises from the context dependent behaviour of system components, and in biochemistry we observe it in the hierarchies of structure formation, and the generation of function, across molecular, cellular and organismal scales. Recent scholarly work (since 2017, with Yi CHEN) has focussed on complexity in human relationality, ethics and aesthetics. Most recently (2022) I have founded the “Sentient Syllabus Project” as an international, public-good collaborative to address how academia can re-imagine itself in the face of our new wave of Artificial Intelligence capabilities. My teaching focuses on inquiry.