Chapter 20 Santa Fe

Santa Fe As the date of the economics symposium drew closer, Arthur began to spend more and more time perfecting his presentation (Arthur was scheduled to be the first speaker on the first day), while Kaufman spent time at home Long walks alone on dusty roads nearby.He said: "I remember pacing back and forth, trying to get the framework of the central concept of my speech." They agreed that Arthur would talk about increasing returns, and Kaufman had already discussed the network simulation he was going to talk about. A speech outline was made.In addition, a discussion will be added on their shared ideas about technological development and autocatalysis.The idea of ​​the economy as an autocatalyst is too good to be dismissed lightly.Kaufman is eager to share this with everyone.

For Kaufman, his home in Santa Fe has been as good a place to meditate on such issues as Hausertel Falls.His home in Santa Fe was a sprawling sprawling building with huge floor-to-ceiling windows.The house sits on a dusty road in the desert region of northwest Santa Fe, from which it overlooks the stunning landscape of the Jemez Mountains across the Rio Grande Valley.There is something timeless, almost spiritual, about the landscape.He bought the property less than a year ago, mostly to be able to stay longer at the Santa Fe Institute. The Santa Fe Institute was without a doubt the third best academic environment he had ever experienced.He said: "I am as excited and fascinated as Oxford and Chicago. But compared to Oxford and Chicago University, Santa Fe is like a small potato. It is a shocking place." He had heard about the Santa Fe Institute in 1985 while working with Farmer on computer simulations of autocatalysis.But he didn't get a chance to see Santa Fe until August 1986, when he attended a seminar at the Institute.The "Complex Adaptive Systems" workshop was organized by Jack Cowin and Mark Feldman, an evolutionary biologist at Stanford University.Like Arthur, Kaufman fell in love with the place instantly, and almost without thinking, he decided that this was the place he wanted to be. "There's always been a passion for truth, a passion for knowledge, and chaos and seriousness and joy, and a sense of 'thank God I'm not alone.'"

His wife and two children, Eisen and Merrad, were also overjoyed to spend time in Santa Fe.When Kaufman showed them the area, they fell in love with it immediately.Kaufman remembers the day they went to Sangri de Cristo to pick mushrooms.His wife was a painter, and there was no place in the world with as much sunshine as New Mexico.So on September 12, 1986, Kaufman bought their home in Santa Fe, planning to come to New Mexico to live in New Mexico for a month or so every year. But on October 25, 1986, less than two weeks after they bought the house in Santa Fe, Merritt was killed in a car accident.After her daughter's death, Santa Fe's home suddenly took on more meaning for Kaufman than a vacation home.Since then, the Santa Fe home has been his sanctuary.His family basically moved here to live here.And Kaufman himself is like an exile between the two homes. What keeps him at the University of Pennsylvania is only his students, annual salary and tenure.The dean of his department knew that Kaufman was doing this because of the need for emotional self-rescue, so he made arrangements for Kaufman to spend half of each year in Santa Fe."Penn has taken great care of me," Kaufman said. "Not a lot of places allow you to do that."

Kaufman said he doesn't remember much about his second year at Santa Fe. In May 1987, he learned that he had received an unconditional "genius" research grant from the MacArthur Foundation. He was very happy about it, but he didn't feel happy. "The worst and luckiest things have happened to me." He retreated to his research work.“As a scientist, this is a place where I can go in and be able to return to a sense of normalcy,” he said, who would often wander along dusty roads, gaze at the mountains, and search for the mysteries of the Creator.