CoCo Seminar: "Governance as a Complex, Networked, Democratic, Satisfiability Problem" by Juniper Lovato (Computer Science, University of Vermont)

CoCo Seminar Series
Fall 2025

Governance as a Complex, Networked, Democratic, Satisfiability Problem

Dr. Juniper Lovato, Assistant Professor, Computer Science, University of Vermont

Wednesday October 1, 2025 12:15-1:15 pm EDT
Hybrid (EB-T1 & Zoom; meeting link below)
https://binghamton.zoom.us/j/96780930614?pwd=aoU62aBXbMcoSgDOG0knIUvWFL9xLe.1

Abstract:
Democratic governments comprise a subset of a population whose goal is to produce coherent decisions solving societal challenges while respecting the will of the people. New governance frameworks represent this as a social network rather than as a hierarchical pyramid with centralized authority. But how should this network be structured? We model the decisions a population must make as a satisfiability problem and the structure of information flow involved in decision-making as a social hypergraph. This framework allows to consider different governance structures, from dictatorships to direct democracy. Between these extremes, we find a regime of effective governance where small overlapping decision groups make specific decisions and share information. Effective governance allows even incoherent or polarized populations to make coherent decisions at low coordination costs. Beyond simulations, our conceptual framework can explore a wide range of governance strategies and their ability to tackle decision problems that challenge standard governments.

Speaker bio:
Juniper Lovato is a researcher in the field of complex systems and data science. Her current research is centered around data ethics, fairness, accountability, transparency, the science of stories, and open-source ecosystems. Drawing from a diverse set of disciplines, including computational social science, computer science, complex systems, and networks, she applies various tools and methods to explore these critical areas. She is an Assistant Professor in Computer Science at the University of Vermont and a member of the Vermont Complex Systems Institute. She earned her Ph.D. in Complex Systems & Data Science at the University of Vermont, where she leads the Computational Ethics Lab.

For more information, contact Hiroki Sayama (sayama@binghamton.edu). http://coco.binghamton.edu/

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