4 December 2025

3:25 PM – 5:00 PM

Amphi Grand Kursaal

Ludovic Dickel

Ludovic Dickel is a professor of ethology and director of the Center for Ethology and Cognition Studies (CNRS, Universities of Caen and Rennes) since 2022. After defending his thesis in Caen in 1997, he continued his research in Texas (Galveston, USA), then joined the University of Caen in 2000 as a lecturer, before being appointed professor in 2007 (exceptional class since 2016). A specialist in cephalopods, he headed the Memory and Behavioral Plasticity group (2012–2016), then the Cognitive Neuroethology team until 2022. He has coordinated a master’s degree in behavioral sciences and has been a member of the National Council of Universities since 2019. He has led two international ANR projects (France, Taiwan) and co-organized seven conferences. He has supervised ten theses (including one international and one veterinary) and is currently supervising one. Author of around 100 international publications on ethology, cognition, and ecology of cephalopods, he has also published 14 guest articles, 5 chapters, and 5 books, including La vie privée du poulpe (Humensciences), which won an award at the MaXoe Festival.

The limits of intelligence, the intelligence of limits

Does intelligence come up against insurmountable barriers, or is it just a perpetual movement of expansion and transcendence? This round table discussion explores the boundaries of knowledge and human, animal, and collective capabilities. Mathematician Cédric Villani explores the limits of understanding in mathematics, that universal language that sometimes stumbles upon the unprovable. Professor Grégory Ninot analyzes the limits of the body, between performance, resilience, and vulnerability. Ethologist Ludovic Dickel reveals how animal intelligence is constantly pushing back the boundaries we have imposed on it. Finally, astrophysicist Alain Riazuelo invites us to go beyond our cognitive abilities to “think the infinite.” Understanding our limits also means learning to overcome, transform, or accept them.